Pritzker has little to say about Madigan being recorded by feds

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that public officials should avoid outside occupations that conflict with their public responsibilities — but he said he did not know whether House Speaker Mike Madigan had done so.

And the newly seated Democratic governor declined to offer any opinions on a report by the Chicago Sun-Times that revealed Madigan was recorded by authorities in his private law office as they investigated Ald. Danny Solis.

“There is an ongoing FBI investigation, and I think we need to see that play out,” Pritzker said at an unrelated Springfield news conference on Tuesday morning.

Pritzker and other top Illinois politicians reacted cautiously to details contained in an explosive document obtained by the Sun-Times. The FBI secretly recorded Madigan trying to get business for his private law firm from a developer brought to him by Solis, who was weighing the developer’s request to build a hotel in Chinatown, according to the affidavit. Madigan has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing.

And Madigan on Tuesday released a statement himself, essentially reiterating what his lawyer told the Sun-Times on Monday.

“To my knowledge, I am not under investigation by the Office of the U.S. Attorney, and I have not been contacted by the U.S. Attorney relative to Dan Solis,” Madigan said in the written statement.

Pritzker, who worked hard to distance himself from the speaker during a lengthy campaign, was asked whether lawmakers should have any restrictions when it comes to their outside occupations.

Pritzker said there is a “potential for conflict of interest” with lawmakers who hold outside jobs.

“That is where we need to make sure that people are either abstaining from the activity on the outside that would interfere with their ability to do their job that they’re elected and do it ethically, or abstaining from being involved in it in any way within government,” Pritzker said. “It’s one or the other. But you can’t be, in my view, it’s improper for people to be voting on issues that are directly affecting their income, their industry, their personal well-being, as, in terms of money making.”

Asked if the speaker has abstained from such conflicts of interest, Pritzker said “I don’t know.”

“But I know that with an investigation ongoing, we’ll be likely to find out if anybody is doing that,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker, himself, was dogged last year by unfavorable comments he made that were recorded by the FBI in their investigation of now-imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

A frequent Madigan critic, Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said in a statement that his office is “concerned with the recent issues coming out of the City of Chicago.”

“We will continue to monitor and assess as more facts come to light,” a Durkin spokesman said.

And the Illinois Republican Party — which, along with former Gov. Bruce Rauner, spent millions to paint Madigan as a corrupt politician — called Madigan’s ability to acquire legal clients via other politicians ” an incredible conflict of interest.”

“Like Ed Burke, developers and wealthy real estate holders don’t consider Speaker Madigan for legal work just because he’s a competent lawyer. Madigan acquires legal clients because he is one of the most powerful political leaders and lawmakers in the State of Illinois. That’s wrong,” spokesman Aaron DeGroot said. “The fact remains that it is an incredible conflict of interest for Madigan to simultaneously serve as Speaker of the Illinois House and as a property tax appeals attorney. The people of Illinois will not see real reform of our broken and punitive property tax system until lawmakers ban that practice.”

In Chicago, Democrats were tight-lipped about Madigan.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle refused to discuss him during a news conference on cold weather plans. She wouldn’t say whether as Cook County Democratic chairman, she would ask Madigan to step down from his role in the county’s Democratic Party.

“I realize that you have to ask that question,” Preckwinkle said. “We’re here today, however, to talk about the brutal cold that is inundating our area and the steps that we’re trying to take as the county to address that challenge for our residents.”

Contributing: Rachel Hinton, reporting from Chicago.