Pritzker believes behind-the-scenes support from Madigan is more important than exposing injustice for a sexual harassment victim
“It’s become apparent that Mike Madigan used his power to cover up sexual harassment in his political organization, and only went public when he knew Alaina Hampton was on the verge of speaking out. Today, J.B. Pritzker was asked repeatedly whether Mike Madigan bears responsibility for these actions, and Pritzker refused to answer the question every single time.
“What’s even more striking is that just yesterday Pritzker released a statement saying we need to focus on Alaina’s story, but when pressed by reporters for a reaction to Mike Madigan’s involvement in Alaina’s story, Pritzker dodged the question. Pritzker said we shouldn’t focus on Madigan’s involvement, but we should rather focus on sexual harassment generally because he knows he can’t speak out against Madigan – the man behind his campaign for governor.
“J.B. Pritzker’s repeated silence on Mike Madigan shines a light on Pritzker’s character and reveals a man who believes behind-the-scenes support from a corrupt politician is more important than speaking out for a woman who faced harassment. Just like his conduct on the Rod Blagojevich calls, Pritzker chooses the insiders over everyone else.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Aaron DeGroot
Today, J.B. Pritzker held a press conference in Springfield and faced a volley of questions about the recent sexual harassment case in Mike Madigan’s political operation. Not once did Pritzker criticize Madigan or his handling of the case. Instead, he chose to dodge and deflect because his campaign is dependent on Mike Madigan’s support. From the press conference:
Question: “You said that you want to believe [Alaina Hampton’s] claim. One of the claims she made was the Speaker’s announcement to fire Quinn was preemptive right out in front of the story. He’s the Chairman of the Democratic Party [of Illinois], and we are five weeks from a primary that you’re running in. At what point does his involvement in the party become a political liability?”
Pritzker: “We’ve got to find out exactly what the facts are… Each piece of information that leaks out is yet another, you know, piece of information. Focusing this on one thing isn’t good enough. This is a pervasive problem throughout private and public sectors and that means to me making sure all the facts are brought to the fore.”
Question: “If you called on Mike Madigan publicly to clean up what happened here, wouldn’t that put pressure and send a signal to women that they were safe working on his campaigns?”
Pritzker: “Again, I would say focusing on one person when this is a pervasive problem, what I would tell you is we need to make sure that all the facts come out…”
Just yesterday, Pritzker released a statement saying in part that “today should be about Alaina and Alaina’s story,” but when pressed by reporters today to respond to what Mike Madigan’s involvement in Alaina’s story was, Pritzker balked, said we shouldn’t focus on Madigan, but rather we should focus on the issue of sexual harassment generally. Yet again, Pritzker refuses to criticize Mike Madigan because he knows he can’t speak out against the man behind his campaign.
Watch Pritzker absolve Madigan of responsibility HERE.
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