By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Gov. JB Pritzker said Friday he has not seen a letter related to allegations involving Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch, in audio comments aired on AM 560.
“I haven’t seen the letter. I’ve certainly heard rumors of it. There are lots of rumors running around,” Pritzker said. “In the end, this is a decision that’s going to get made by members of the General Assembly. They’re the ones who choose. I’m going to work with whoever the speaker of the House is.”
The broadcast did not describe the contents of the letter or identify who wrote it. Host Jeannie Ives, a former Republican state representative, said during the program that Welch would not seek reelection to the speakership and characterized the letter as related to sexual harassment allegations. Those characterizations were not confirmed elsewhere in the broadcast.
Welch, a Democrat, has served as speaker of the Illinois House. Ives said Welch was first elected to the General Assembly in January 2013, the same month she took office.
Ives also said Welch previously served as president of the Proviso Township school board and that the district entered financial watch status during his tenure there. That claim was not independently detailed during the broadcast.
Pritzker said his focus remains on moving the state’s legislative agenda forward regardless of who holds the speakership. “Even when we disagree on things, my job is to make sure that we’re moving our agenda forward,” he said. “So that’s what I’m focused on.”
The General Assembly, not the governor, selects the speaker of the House. No timetable for a leadership decision was given during the broadcast.
