WATCH: Candidate Dabrowski wants audit as IL Child Care Services funding skyrockets

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski is calling for a forensic audit of state spending on human services, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the speaker of the Illinois House have different ideas.

Dabrowski held a news conference in downtown Chicago Tuesday, in the wake of ongoing fraud allegations involving child care funding in Minnesota.

Dabrowski said, in Illinois, state appropriations of state and federal Child Care Service funds increased 299% from 2019 to 2026 while the general funds budget grew 37% during the same period.

“Three-hundred percent growth, is that fair? It might be good for somebody who’s getting the money, right, but there’s other people who are having to pay,” Dabrowski said. “They were just burning their tax bills on the West and South Side.”

A number of Chicago residents were seen burning their property tax bills after they arrived in November. Some Chicagoans reported tax bill increases between 80% and 120%.

“At the bottom of all these crazy budgets, all these deficits, all these tax hikes are everyday Illinoisans who are just getting whacked, right? We’ve got the highest property taxes in the country now, the second-highest gas taxes in the country. We’ve got the highest cell phone taxes in the country,” Dabrowski said.

When asked about rising federal government spending, Dabrowski said the feds can print money.

“The state can’t print money. All we can do is keep borrowing. The way we spend, we keep borrowing,” Dabrowski said.

Dabrowski said the state’s pension debt grew from $16 billion under former Gov. Jim Edgar to $145 million today.

“How many balanced budgets have we had since then? All of them. They’re all balanced, and yet our debts keep going up,” Dabrowski said.

Dabrowski said state spending on Human Services increased 94% since Pritzker took office in 2019 to the current fiscal year 2026.

Though he said he was not making fraud accusations, the former Wirepoints president called for a forensic audit and said Pritzker should defend the growth in Human Services spending.

Alex Gough, campaign spokesman for Pritzker, provided a statement to The Center Square in response.

“Just so we’re clear, Ted Dabrowski is saying he does not want the state to provide support to and care for people with disabilities? This is such an extreme, ludicrous position that members of his own party don’t even support it. Good luck with that,” Gough said.

Dabrowski said the governor is resorting to “straw man arguments” in an effort to shut down any questions.

“In the wake of the enormous fraud in Minnesota, the massive increases in spending in Illinois, and the state’s own history of fraud and corruption, calling for an audit of that spending is the responsible thing to do,” Dabrowski said in a statement to The Center Square. “Why is the Governor afraid of transparency?”

Shortly after Dabrowski spoke, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, was asked about pension debt while he spoke at the City Club of Chicago.

“I have said this in every town hall meeting I’ve had, so I’m not breaking news, that I believe we should tax rich people. We should tax millionaires,” Welch said.

In addition to discussing the increases in Human Services and Child Care Services spending, Dabrowski talked about what he called “legal fraud” involving Chicago Public Schools funding and taxpayer spending on non-governmental organizations that receive millions of dollars from federal and state governments.

Dabrowski promised to further address NGOs at a future event.