South Central Reporter

Illinois state Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) isn’t mincing words over his displeasure with Gov. J.B. Pritzker so easily dismissing the secretly recorded conversations he had with then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich more than a decade ago as irrelevant to his current efforts to fight corruption in Springfield.

“The governor has no credibility when talking about corruption in Illinois given all his nefarious dealings,” Wilhour told the South Central Reporter. “It’s laughable to hear him talk about eliminating corrupt behavior in Springfield. He’s been given multiple situations to lead on this issue and each time he’s miserably fallen short of getting the job done.”

In separate calls made in 2008 that were ultimately made public, Pritzker and Blagojevich talked about installing a replacement for Barack Obama’s vacated U.S Senate seat and political donations.

Wilhour argues such behavior has been the Illinois way of doing things for far too long, and that none of it will change without a drastic overhaul to the system.

“You’re not going to change the culture until you change the leadership,” he said. “This kind of culture has grown because leadership has cultivated it. (House Speaker) Mike Madigan and his cronies created this and until voters decide to rise up and vote these people out of office it’s not going to change. You might see some window dressing, but nothing’s really going to change much.”

Wilhour added he plans to introduce a series of ethic reforms bills he hopes will jump-start the job he thinks needs to be done in Springfield.

“It’s a strong package that centers on bringing about more accountability and transparency on a number of different fronts,” he said.

Last month, President Donald Trump commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year corruption sentence, insisting he had sympathy for the disgraced former lawmaker and his family.