Pritzker haunted by wiretapped conversation with Blagojevich at candidate forum

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A convicted former Illinois governor has played a high-profile role in the Democratic race for the office.

During a candidate forum Friday, JB Pritzker defended himself once again over an FBI wiretap of him speaking with Rod Blagojevich about possible appointments to elected offices.

In a forum in front of the Chicago Tribune editorial board, Pritzker stated that he has never been accused of wrongdoing.

"During the course of my life, I've done public service for decades, and both as a private citizen and in the public sector," Pritzker said. "And I was simply, once again seeking the opportunity to do public service."

Fellow Democratic candidate Daniel Biss jumped on Pritzker's comments.

"If that phone call is your definition of public service, you're doing it wrong," Biss said.

The Democrats also seized on comments made by Governor Rauner Thursday. Rauner said that Illinois' high taxes could hurt the chances of luring Amazon to the state.

"You can't be telling business customers as to what's wrong with your state, and expect them to come here and ask your neighboring republican governors to criticize it as well," Candidate Bob Daiber said.

The candidates did seem to agree with Rauner about the need for property tax reform and reforms to the appeals process, even though Pritzker and candidate Chris Kennedy have benefitted from the current laws.

"I think Bruce Rauner is trying to do what he thinks is best for the state of Illinois, and we may disagree on what that is," Kennedy said. "But his willingness to speak truth to power and to take on the powers that have been strangling our economy for decades in this state is something that I think he should be applauded for."