Candidate Dabrowski wants audit as IL Child Care Services funding
skyrockets
[January 07, 2026]
By Jim Talamonti | 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.
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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.
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