Billionaire Governor of Illinois J.B. Pritzker dodged a question about the whereabouts of his wife during a press conference Wednesday after it was reported she had left the state to ride out the stay-at-home from their $12.1million Florida equine estate.
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Pritzker refused to answer the question stating his family should not not be brought into politics, slamming the story as ‘reprehensible’ despite his wife M.K. Pritzker having an office in the Illinois Capitol and a full-time staffer.
In contrast, answering the question immediately after about businesses in the state disobeying the stay-at-home order, Pritzker warned that there were many ways they could be punished for reopening too soon.
The report that the first lady had left the state came after the governor extended ‘All Illinois’ stay-at-home order through May 30 and faced several legal challenges for doing so. The stay-at-home order is the second longest in America.
The governor is a member of the Pritzker family who own the Hyatt hotel chain.
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker with his wife M.K. and their two children. The governor refused to answer a question Wednesday about whether his wife has gone to Florida despite the stay-at-home order he has now extended in the state until May 30. He called the story ‘reprehensible’
Illinois’ first lady is reported to have traveled to this $12.1million Florida estate the family owns
Gov. Pritzker was asked a direct question about the whereabouts of his wife Wednesday by Patch reporter Mark Konkol who had first reported that she may have left the state to go to one of their second homes.
‘What is your response to people who say the stay-at-home order and non-essential travels bans aren’t abided by your family?’ Konkol asked.
‘The first thing I’d like to say is that in politics it used to be that we kept our families out of it,’ said Pritzker.
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‘My official duties have nothing to do with my family. So, I’m not going to answer that question. It’s inappropriate and I find it reprehensible, honestly that that a reporter wrote a story about it.’
In a follow-up question about parties being held and small businesses opening up in defiance of the order, Gov. Pritzker warned that there were penalties that could be used to ensure that didn’t happen.
‘We have enforcement methods that can be used. Their permits can be taken away, phising the state can take action, local government can take action,’ he said, urging them to stay closed for the safety of themselves and their patrons.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaking during a press conference Wednesday in which he refused to answer a question about whether his wife had traveled to Florida despite restrictions
Illinois first lady M.K. Pritzker announced earlier in April that she has signed on to help raise money from the Art for Illinois relief program but since then, little has been heard from her.
The governor has not mentioned his wife or their daughter when he speaks about his life under the shutdown orders, only saying that he chats with his son when at home.
‘I’ll just say I’m managing through this time reasonably well,’ Pritzker said on April 17.
‘I think there is an emotional component to this that I’ll just not spend a lot of time on.’
Sources told Patch that this was because M.K. Pritzker has traveled to the family’s $12.1million equestrian estate in Wellington, Florida, to shelter from the outbreak.
The multi-million dollar estate, located close to homes of Brice Springsteen, Bill Gates and Billy Joel, is just one of a list of luxurious properties the family owns including houses at Lake Geneva in Wisconsin and one in the Bahamas.
The family purchased the Florida property the same week the governor was elected in 2018.
It is not a residential home and the stables include 30 stalls, an oversized riding arena, a manager’s apartment and an owner’s lounge among its more than 27,000 square feet of buildings.
M.K. Pritzker, who grew up riding horses in South Dakota, is a board member of the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation.
She previously worked in Washington D.C. on the staffs of former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and former Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey.
JB Pritzker is a member of the billionaire Pritzker family and donated $171million to his own campaign in 2018. He is the heir to the Hyatt hotel chain.
The family is consistently named on the Forbes ‘America’s Richest Families’ list.
The couple, who have been married for 25 years, lives on Astor Street in Chicago with their two children, where they paid $18.17 million for a pair of neighboring houses.
Gov. Pritzker has received push back on his decision to extend a modified stay-at-home order in the state to May 30 with a church in northwest Illinois filing a federal lawsuit Thursday contending that Pritzker’s executive actions have demonstrated ‘illegal and discriminatory hostility to religious practice, churches, and people of faith’.
It followed two other legal challenges introduced recently by Republican state representatives.
A judge issued a temporary injunction allowing Rep. Darren Bailey of Xenia to ignore the stay-at-home order on Monday while Rep. John Cabello of Machesney Park filed another complaint on Wednesday in Winnebago County seeking to exempt more Illinoisans from the stay-at-home order.
The modified stay-at-home order goes into effect Friday.
It allows greenhouses, garden centers and nurseries, and animal grooming services to re-open as essential businesses following social distancing requirements.
Employees and customers must wear a face covering.
Retail stores may re-open to fulfill telephone and online orders through pick-up outside the store and delivery.
The new order also calls for face masks to be worn when in a public place where a six-foot social distance can’t be maintained.
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