Manar leaving state Senate to become adviser to Pritzker
SPRINGFIELD - Democratic state Sen. Andy Manar of downstate Bunker Hill announced Monday he will resign from the General Assembly effective Jan. 17 to join the governor's office as an adviser two days later.
The announcement marked the second high-profile resignation from the state Senate in one week's time, as GOP Leader Bill Brady of Bloomington announced his immediate resignation on Dec. 31.
Manar announced his resignation shortly after noon Monday, and within 20 minutes Gov. J.B. Pritzker's office announced he would hire Manar as a senior adviser. Manar will be paid $278,000, annually according to the governor's office, half of which will be paid out from a limited liability company, East Jackson Street LLC, created by Pritzker to compensate several of his top aides beyond their state payrolls.
The rate of pay is more than 3½ times Manar's Senate salary, which was $79,100 in 2019.
In a statement, Manar said his wife, Trista, and three 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," he said. "The time has come for someone new to take up the call in the Illinois Senate. Central Illinois is full of outstanding individuals ready to step forward to meet the challenge - be an agent of change in Downstate Illinois."
Manar would have been up for reelection in the 48th Senate District in 2022, likely facing a difficult challenge in an area that leaned heavily toward Republican President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. He did not respond to a phone message from Capitol News Illinois Monday.
Manar replaces Nikki Budzinski, who left the administration in February, as a senior adviser.
"Andy is a fiercely devoted public servant with an enviable track record in the legislature. His counsel and friendship have been invaluable over the last two years," Pritzker's chief of staff, Anne Caprara, said in a statement. "We are elated that he will be serving alongside this team as we face the challenges of the coming years."
The Bunker Hill Democrat has served in the Senate since 2012 and was most notably the lead negotiator of an evidence-based funding formula for K-12 education which directs money to the schools that are furthest from funding adequacy based on a number of factors. That reform passed in 2017.