Prairie State Wire

Jeanne Ives, a former legislator and founder of Breakthrough Ideas, said llinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is responsible for allowing state employees to engage in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud without facing prosecution. She expressed this view in a post on the social media platform X on April 5.

"Incompetent," said Ives. "Reckless? Over 300 of your state employees stole over $ 8 million in PPP fraud and no one is prosecuting them. Not your AG or any state or federal prosecutor."

Ives was responding to a post by Governor Pritzker that criticized the Trump administration's handling of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In his post, Pritzker said, "Incompetent, reckless, and outright sabotage. What the Trump administration is doing at the Department of Health and Human Services is gutting our care system from the core. Americans will pay the cost with their lives."

Screenshot of Jeanne Ives' April 5 post on X | X

According to Pritzker’s post, which included a link to an article by CNN dated April 2, job cuts at HHS were reported. The article detailed that employees received early-morning emails notifying them they no longer had jobs, while others found themselves unable to enter their offices upon arrival. These job cuts followed an announcement by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said that 10,000 full-time employees would lose their jobs as part of efforts to reduce bureaucratic sprawl while prioritizing chronic disease initiatives.

The PPP fraud mentioned by Ives was uncovered in December 2024 when the Office of the Executive Inspector General completed its investigation into allegations that state employees had improperly claimed PPP loans for non-existent small businesses or failed to disclose them. This investigation specifically targeted public employees who received more than $20,000 from the program after declaring $100,000 or more in net profit or gross income on their loan applications.

Jeanne Ives has had a notable political career. Born on October 4, 1964, she served three terms in the Illinois House of Representatives for the 42nd district from 2013 to 2019. She ran in the 2018 Republican primary for Illinois governor but narrowly lost to incumbent Bruce Rauner. In 2020, she was the Republican nominee for Illinois's 6th congressional district but was defeated by Democrat Sean Casten. Currently, Ives hosts "The Real Story with Jeanne Ives," a radio show airing live on Sunday evenings on AM 560 The Answer in Chicago.