Failed Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has delusions of grandeur and is dropping hints of a potential White House.
Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin took Pritzker to task for his abject failure of leadership, and destruction of a great state, during a discussion as part of the Esther B. O’Keeffe Speakers Series at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, Florida.
In June of 2022, The Gateway Pundit reported Griffen’s announcement that his hedge fund firm, Citadel would be moving its operations to Florida, citing a more business-friendly environment.
Other major businesses have fled the state in recent years including Caterpillar and Boeing.
Pritzker has tried to frame the move as”sour grapes” over the election, but Griffin disputes that and explains that the decision was made before the election.
In the interview, Griffin shares:
“I mean, you know what’s funny in Illinois? You know, J.B. was in a race for the governor in a to be determined Republican primary candidate and I supported man, Richard Irvin from Aurora, who was a fantastic mayor. A really, really solid person. And I knew early on in the primary that we were actually moving to Florida. My kids had applied to go to school down here. We bought a $300 million parcel of land in Miami to build a new office building. And I found myself writing about $50 million dollars in checks to Richard Irvin knowing I was going to leave.”
“Why would I spend $50 million dollars in the Republican Primary in a state that I had no intention to live in? I thought the best gift I could leave Illinois was good leadership. And it breaks my heart that he was re-elected because the state of Illinois deserves good leadership.”
“I watched the policies of J.B. Pritzker destroy one of the great states in this nation. It breaks my heart.”
“I would spend whatever it takes to make sure J.B. Pritzker is never in the White House.”
The relevant part of the interview begins at 29:43.
Gov. JB Pritzker told the world during the World Economic Forum’s January meeting in Davos Switzerland that billionaire Ken Griffin and his company up and left because of sour grapes over an election Griffin effectively lost to Pritzker.
It’s a claim Pritzker has made often that the press hasn’t challenged. At least one columnist, Rich Miller, has repeated it. His Twitter post and headline said, “After apparent spectacular political failure, Ken Griffin takes ball, goes home to Florida.”
It’s not true, and was never credible. Griffin had made the decision to move to Miami long before anybody had a handle on the election results.
Griffin had supported Mayor Richard Irvin who lost the Republican primary on June 28, 2022 to Darren Bailey, who Pritzker supported as his preferred opponent for the general election. Griffin announced, on June 23 (when the election results had become apparent), that he and the headquarters of his company, Citadel, were moving.
But Citadel had already signed for its $363 million April acquisition of the land for its new headquarters back in April, so the decision to leave surely was made before then. The election results weren’t known when Citadel was making that decision.
