JB Pritzker blasts Chicago mayors team for skipping scheduled calls, being reclusive amid hemp bill battle
He’s feeling left a little high and dry.Reeling from a recent defeat on hemp legislation, Illinois Gov.JB Pritzker lashed out at his fellow Democrat, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson who had publicly pushed to tank the bill.
Pritzker, 59, didn’t mince words about Johnson, 48, whose approval rating is heavily underwater, and accused him and his team of not being communicative, even skipping scheduled calls.“They don’t reach out very often, and it seems like they don’t have good relationships in Springfield in part because they don’t reach out very often,” Pritzker chided about Johnson during a press conference on healthcare infrastructure grants.
“We, by the way, scheduled calls,” Pritzker further jabbed.“And then they didn’t show up.
And then there was a December call that happened in which they didn’t ask for anything.” “But again, he has my number.”Pritzker’s blunt assessment of Johnson came after he got pressed by reporters about their rapport after he had tough words for his fellow Democrats in the state legislature for tanking the hemp legislation.The billionaire Hyatt hotel chain heir had backed state legislation to heavily restrict the sale of products like delta-10 THC, delta-8 and similar hemp-derived substances that have become particularly popular amongst the youth in Illinois.Proponents of the bill argued that a loophole in current law permitted smoke shops to sell unregulated hemp products to minors.
State-licensed legalized cannabis are subject to far more robust regulations than hemp shops in the state, which aren’t subject to the same level of taxes and fees, don’t have to label the product potency and don’t have to comply with age restrictions.“I want to be clear, if this had come up for a vote if the speaker had called this, this would’ve passed with a supermajority,” Pritzker further groused, noting that he’s mulling other options.Johnson had pushed against the bill, arguing that it would deal a blo...