Sen. Manar to join Pritzker administration

Leading voice in General Assembly quits to become senior adviser to governor

Andy Manar went from mayor of Bunker Hill to Macoupin County Board chairman to the state Senate, and now he’ll join the Pritzker administration as a senior adviser. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

By Ted Cox

State Sen. Andy Manar announced he was retiring from public service Monday, only to find that just when he thought he was out they pulled him back in.

Manar, whose previous 22 years in public service included stints as Macoupin County Board chairman and mayor of Bunker Hill, announced Monday on Twitter that he was giving up the Senate seat he’d held since 2012, effective Jan. 17.

“After 22 years of public service, I realize this,” he said in a statement. “I got more out of it than I gave it, and I gave it all I had each and every day.”

Moments later, however, Gov. Pritzker announced Manar would be joining his administration as a senior adviser, two days after leaving the Senate, on Jan. 19. A news release from the Governor’s Office said that “because of the breadth of Manar’s policy background, he will advise the governor on a range of issues, including downstate economic revitalization, appropriations, and COVID-19 recovery efforts.”

In the Senate, Manar was a leading proponent of the 2017 motor-voter law, automatically registering eligible driver’s license applicants to vote, and the state’s evidence-based school funding formula, passed and signed into law the same year. In the most recent session he passed a law hiking the state’s minimum teacher salary to $40,000 and another capping insulin costs.

“We often say something like ‘it’s difficult to sum up the impact’ of a departing legislator,” tweeted Christian Mitchell, who previously left the General Assembly as a state representative to join the Pritzker administration as deputy governor. “Here it is easy. Tens of millions of poor children in Illinois will get a better education and shot at the American dream because Andy Manar was a state senator. Period.”

“Andy has been one of the most thoughtful and successful lawmakers of his generation, and he will be a trusted advisor,” Pritzker said in a statement. “In his career, Andy has done so much to improve the lives of working families. He led the effort to reform the state’s antiquated education-funding formula, made insulin cheaper for the millions who depend upon it, led efforts to reform election laws, and oversaw the appropriations committee during truly challenging times. Any one of those accomplishments would be hailed as a career capstone, and Andy has too many to name. I value his insights and look forward to him joining my administration as we overcome this pandemic and rebuild Illinois together.”

Manar said in his initial statement that his wife and three teenage children “have only known me as a husband and father who also carries the responsibility of serving as an elected official. They have never known a day otherwise.”

But he immediately jumped right back into public service, albeit it with what are likely to be more conventional hours as an adviser to the governor. “Illinois faces so many challenges, and I look forward to taking on these challenges from the executive branch,” he said. “Gov. Pritzker has shown tremendous leadership in the most grave crisis this state has experienced in our lifetime, and I’m honored to share what I’ve learned to advance his agenda to rebuild our state and stand up for working families.”