David Greising

Pritzker’s stand on elections was an act of leadership. Some disagreed, others agreed. And that’s when leaders step up and make a judgment call.

In states where gerrymandering has been stamped out, competitive elections are the norm. But not in Illinois.

The tax haul for the state would have been larger, and weed investors would have grown even richer, had supply not run short.

On the same day Gov. Pritzker unveiled his latest spending plan and our ex-con former governor brought his circus back to town, it becomes clear: For the good of the state, fiscal renewal and ethics reform must go hand in hand.

Pritzker’s plan would replace Illinois’ flat tax with a graduated income tax projected to increase revenue by $3.6 billion a year, chiefly by hiking tax rates on the top 3% of all earners.

The mayor has a lot of work to do before the city can plausibly claim its tax-increment financing investments are advancing the cause of racial justice in any meaningful way.

Lightfoot wanted a change-maker. She got one. And the changes Beck is making will set the Chicago Police Department in a new direction that is long overdue.

After federal investigators raided the offices of Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago, Pritzker lamented that the alleged wrongdoers were “throwing obstacles in the way of us accomplishing pension consolidation and lowering taxes, property taxes and other things in the state.”

The latest of a series of Springfield ethics reform commissions seems predisposed to focus on lobbying, but that’s only one of the roots of Illinois’ corrupt politics.

With the question of whether and when to build a pot industry now behind us, the questions of how, and how much, are still very much in play. They’re the questions that matter as Illinois’ marijuana saga continues to play out.