Gov. JB Pritzger

Shortly after noon on Monday, Democrat J.B. Pritzker became the 43rd governor of Illinois. 

Pritzker’s inauguration ceremony took place at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, with other statewide officials, including Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, taking their oaths of office and speaking after him. 

In his inaugural address, Pritzker highlighted some of the key challenges Illinois faces.

“We contend every day with an economy that gives little and takes too much… that allows passion and work ethic to be overwhelmed by student loans, unexpected health emergencies and the rising cost of living,” Pritzker said early in his speech. “We watch 100-year storms that now come every year – and yet we don’t allow the science of climate change to guide our decision making.”

Pritzker continued, citing other issues such as leaders who “substitute pageantry for patriotism.” 

“We want better roads, better schools, better wages – but we vilify anyone who dares suggest a workable path to those things,” he said later in his speech. “We allow our schools, our movie theaters, our hospitals, our neighborhoods to become battlefields – legally accessible by the weapons of war. 

“Our abdication of responsibility must end.”

Despite those issues, he said Illinois “is not broken.” He mentioned several steps he plans to take in an effort to solve those issues.

One of the keys to that is an overhaul of the state’s tax system…>>> 

Read the full story in the January 16, 2019, issue.

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