Sangamon Sun

Veteran state Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) is calling for a full investigation into reports that during his first 18 months in office, Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker has made at least 35 hires from a so-called “clout list” comprised by and supplied to him by longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago).

“We need to make sure everything is on the up and up with this,” McClure told the Sangamon Sun. “Right now, people are very skeptical of government, moreso than ever before. We’ve got a former alleged corrupt member of the General Assembly now actually facing criminal prosecution. So, there is heightened scrutiny of elected officials and the hiring practices by every administration are being closely looked at.”

McClure speculates that the names on the list of those actually hired by Pritzker could answer some questions about what the governor’s motivations could have been for so easily falling in line with Madigan’s demands.

“That’s something we definitely need to look at and study in great detail,” he said. “I don’t know the reason the governor made the hires and believe we need more information to get to the bottom of things.”

McClure has been a frequent critic of the governor of late, including blasting several components of the $42 billion state budget he recently signed into law.

“We just don’t have the money to be giving out to every faction there is,” he previously told the Sangamon Sun of a provision in the plan that make the state the first in the country to provide Medicaid to undocumented immigrants. “Our state is beyond broke and really hurting right now. Beyond that, longtime residents of Illinois are really getting crushed right now by everything that’s happening with COVID-19. It’s time we take care of the people here paying taxes.”