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Two Republicans running for Illinois governor this year are calling for Springfield to clean up its act in the wake of Minnesota’s rampant fraud scandal, citing multiple areas of alleged vulnerability under incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker.
The Democrat and Hyatt Hotels heir defended Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after Walz declined a third term amid his state’s fraud scandal, calling Walz a “friend” and saying he was “thankful for his service and sacrifice.”
Current GOP frontrunner Darren Bailey announced plans for a “DOGE for Illinois,” and fellow Republican Ted Dabrowski publicly demanded that Pritzker submit to a full audit of social services, including SNAP.
“At the bottom of all these crazy budgets, all these deficits, all these tax hikes are everyday Illinoisans who are just getting whacked,” Dabrowski said at a recent press conference on the matter of Illinois’ tax woes and Pritzker’s oversight of state programs.
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Dabrowski, the former president of Chicago-based financial research firm Wirepoints, said Illinois has seen disbursements to childcare social services funding spike nearly 300% since 2019, and wondered aloud, “Is that fair?”
“They were just burning their tax bills on the West and South Side [of Chicago],” he said, referencing reports of people literally lighting their tax forms on fire in November after witnessing 100% increases at times.
Calling for a true forensic audit of Springfield’s books, Dabrowski said Illinois cannot print money like the U.S. Treasury can, but may only keep borrowing on the backs of taxpayers.
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Similarly, Bailey announced this week that his running mate, Palatine city legislator Aaron Del Mar, will also be named “Illinois DOGE Czar” if his ticket is successful against Pritzker in November.
“This will be a transparency-first project,” Bailey, a recently departed state senator for the Effingham area, said in a statement.
Del Mar would be in charge of “putting waste, fraud and abuse on public display,” he said.
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Nodding to how former federal DOGE chief Elon Musk opened his office, Bailey said Illinois DOGE would not be done with a chainsaw but with “an X-Acto knife.”
“It needs to be audited. It needs to be opened up so that people know where the money’s coming from. I am very confident there is going to be a lot of waste discovery in that,” he told Peoria’s CBS affiliate.
Pritzker campaign spokesman Alex Gough rejected the premise, telling the outlet that Bailey “echoes Trump’s lies, copies Trump’s dangerous ideas and wants to bring Trump’s chaos to Illinois.”
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Gough also returned a Fox News inquiry about Pritzker’s comment on Dabrowski’s plan by quipping, “Good luck with that.”
“Just so we’re clear, Ted Dabrowski is saying he does not want the state to provide support to and care for people with disabilities?” Gough said of Dabrowski’s audit plan.
“This is such an extreme, ludicrous position that members of his own party don’t even support it.”
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After the federal Department of Health and Human Services froze funding for childcare services in Illinois, Pritzker defended Springfield’s existing controls, saying state agencies “operate within robust procedures and protocol to prevent, report and address alleged fraud,” according to the Jacksonville Journal-Courier.
Other Illinois lawmakers also chimed in on the thought of pursuing fraud in Illinois to curb any Minnesota-like issues.
Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., was asked by St. Louis’ FOX News Radio affiliate how much fraud she believes can be found “in the Land of Lincoln.”
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“I think it would be stunning,” Miller replied.
“And I think the fact that JB Pritzker refuses to release the voter rolls, the SNAP rolls, the Medicaid rolls [shows] he doesn’t want us to uncover the layers of corruption and abuse of taxpayers that is going on in Illinois.”
Miller said she hopes state Republicans’ plans come to pass, saying she will also put pressure on the Hyatt Hotels heir.
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“We control the purse — Congress does. We are going to cut off funding to any states that refuse to comply,” Miller said.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins also previously called for every state to allow the feds to audit their SNAP rolls, in particular. Most Democratic governors balked at the demand.
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