By Roger Stone and Mark Vargas

Illinois taxpayers are being asked to believe a fairy tale.

They are told that Gov. JB Pritzker’s massive personal fortune sits inside a “blind trust,” safely sealed off from the decisions of the state government. But the numbers tell a different story – one that is becoming impossible to ignore.

Since Pritzker took office in 2019, companies tied to his blind trust have received more than $20 billion in Illinois state contracts, all paid for with taxpayer money.

That is not blindness. That is precision.

A blind trust is supposed to prevent conflicts of interest, not repeatedly intersect with state spending on a scale that dwarfs most state budgets. Yet under Pritzker, taxpayer-funded contracts continue to flow to companies within his financial orbit – healthcare giants, Medicaid contractors, and corporate entities deeply embedded in Springfield’s lobbying culture.

This is not a one-off coincidence. It is a pattern – and patterns are what expose systems.

Illinois has lived under one-party Democratic rule for years. When competition disappears and oversight weakens, corruption doesn’t need to hide. It operates in plain sight, wrapped in legal language and dismissed as “normal.”

That same pattern extends beyond healthcare and into the Pritzker family’s hospitality empire.

Recent disclosures uncovered show that more than $180 million in taxpayer-funded renovations and upgrades have flowed to the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place since 2011.

The spending was approved through the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, a state-created entity funded by special hotel, food, and beverage taxes paid by the public.

While the state technically owns the property, the hotel is operated by Hyatt – a company controlled by the Pritzker family. Taxpayer-funded renovations increase the hotel’s value, boost occupancy, and drive higher revenues, which in turn generate management fees and profit tied directly to the Pritzker-controlled corporation.

The most recent disclosure alone revealed $8.8 million in “infrastructure improvements” in a single fiscal year, part of a broader renovation campaign that spans guest rooms, common areas, and core building systems. All of it was approved while Gov. Pritzker appoints nearly half of the authority’s governing board.

This is not an isolated transaction. It is another data point in a broader system where taxpayer dollars repeatedly intersect with the governor’s financial universe – whether through state contracts held in his blind trust or public spending that benefits his family’s business interests.

That is precisely why Gov. Pritzker bristles at efforts to expose waste, fraud, and abuse. He has publicly attacked DOGE-style transparency initiatives, dismissing them as “an insult to all Americans.”

That statement deserves to be remembered because transparency only insults those who benefit from darkness.

Contrast this with President Donald Trump, who has consistently taken on entrenched political machines and made rooting out corruption a central pillar of leadership. President Trump understands what career politicians fear most: sunlight.

When the books are opened, the excuses collapse.

Any serious attempt to expose how taxpayer money moves through the Illinois government was bound to trigger resistance. Those who profit from the system always respond the same way – attack the messengers, discredit the data, and shift the conversation.

Illinois is quickly joining the ranks of other one-party states, including Minnesota, where prolonged political monopolies have produced scandal after scandal. Different states, same outcome. When one party controls everything for long enough, accountability vanishes and arrogance sets in.

This is not about partisan politics. It is about whether the public still has the right to know how its money is spent – and who benefits. A blind trust that repeatedly aligns with billions in taxpayer-funded contracts is not a firewall. It is a warning sign.

The facts are now public. The numbers are real. And once they are out, they cannot be unseen.

Illinois taxpayers deserve transparency. They deserve accountability. And they deserve leaders who are not threatened by oversight.

If Gov. Pritzker’s blind trust truly has nothing to hide, then scrutiny should not bother him at all.

But if it does – Illinois already knows why.

 

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