Prairie State Wire

Gov. J.B. Pritzker once joked with one of his predecessors, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, about which Black politician would be “least offensive” to fill a U.S. Senate seat being vacated by then-President Barack Obama.

The conversation was one of a series in which Pritzker schemed with Blagojevich on an appointment to public office.  

Those audio files were recorded by the FBI as Blagojevich was under investigation for seeking personal gain from the appointment of Obama’s former seat.

"But if you're forced to put an African-American in the spot, which my guess is you're not forced to do anything, but my guess is a lot of pressure to do it, of all the African-Americans I can think that are sort of like qualified and vetted and people will say, 'Oh, that's, you know, that's, that's a pretty good pick,' the one that's least offensive and maybe gets you the most because it gets you that secretary of state appointment is Jesse White," Pritzker said in the recorded conversation.

The two then joke about Obama’s mixed-race background.

"You can argue he's, you know, he's got a lot in common with Obama, he's Black and White. Ha." Pritzker responds with a slight chuckle, "heh, heh." Blagojevich then adds, "How stupid is that?"

Pritzker can be heard chuckling on the audio.

"That's good," Pritzker said, praising Blagojevich for the racial joke. "That's good.”

He also is heard reassuring Blagojevich, “You don’t have to put an African-American in that spot” if he were to appoint Jesse White.

Blagojevich was later sentenced to 14 years in prison and Pritzker leveraged his massive personal fortune to become governor.

Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, who was then a state senator, said Pritzker’s call portrayed a way of thinking among the state’s elites.

"This is powerful White men, totally unaware of their privilege horse, trading people of color to gain more power," Biss said. "It's way past time that we lift the veil on this ugly imbalance in power between the wealthy and connected on the one hand and people who have been for way too long taken advantage of by a broken system.”

Former state Senate President Emil Jones, whose son Emil Jones III was recently indicted for bribery, said at the time that Pritzker was suggesting a “safe Black” for the seat.

"A safe Black is one that's not going to make any waves," Jones said at the time. "He's not going to stand up and fight for anything. He's going to go along. See, Emil Jones has never been a go-along."

The continued schism between the sheltered billionaire and the state’s Black community is becoming wider and more important as around a third of the Democrat vote comes from the Black community.

Pritzker similarly left the state’s Black entrepreneurs out of lucrative state licenses for recreational marijuana facilities.

Former ABC 7 reporter Charles Thomas said Democrats have been disrespecting the Black community for years by providing awful public services and passing over local politicians and businessmen.

Thomas, a paid spokesman with the People Who Play By the Rules PAC which opposes Pritzker, criticized those who voted for Pritzker solely because he is a Democrat.

“(Pritzker) out of whole cloth created a brand new industry, this cannabis industry, and he said there would be equity. Those are his words, equity. In other words, we were going to get 15 to 20% of all this business, which is a multibillion-dollar business, now. We got nothing,” Thomas said on WVON-AM.

The issue is one of many the Black politicians have brought up over the course of the campaign season.

The issue was central to the campaign of primary opponent Beverly Miles, who said despite the toll the War on Drugs took on the Black community, Pritzker gave recreational marijuana licenses in those communities to “rich White people,” cutting out the Black community from the coveted business licenses, creating rancor in the community.

That sentiment was noted by GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey at a debate on Oct. 18.

“Governor Pritzker for four years, 'equity, equity, equity.' And he finally had his opportunity with the recreational marijuana dispensaries and he failed again," Bailey said. "I'm out in the Black community – you probably saw me on Facebook a few weeks ago since you saw everything else – then I was walking with the Black community, up and down the streets of Chicago, and they were screaming foul because they can't get the licenses."

The comment came after WGN news anchor Micah Materre asked Pritzker why the Black community had been left out of the process.

“Let's talk about equity and recreational-use cannabis," Materre said. "The state's program went online in 2020. The first predominantly Black-owned craft grow house recently opened in the state. But governor, since 2020, more than 340 licenses have been given out and only one has been given to a minority owner. Governor, when will you make good on your promise to diversify the lucrative cannabis industry?”