Controversial publications find new printer, company principal tweets

Less than a week after a group of controversial conservative publications lost their printing deal after Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s campaign intervened, the company has found a new printer for its mailers, according to an official’s tweet.

Republican insider Dan Proft, who’s listed as the principal for Local Government Information Services, announced Sunday on Twitter that Paddock Publications Inc. had “been replaced as the printer by a bigger operation.” He added that distribution would increase as a result.

Proft did not answer requests for information from the Northwest Herald.

The mailers are run by Local Government Information Services, which distributes nearly three dozen publications online and several by mail, according to its website. The publications have the look of a newspaper, but have no ads shown on its websites or on its pages.

Proft, a conservative radio talk show host and president of the People Who Play By The Rules Political Action Committee, also was found to be the principal on the LGIS’s board of directors as recently as 2019, filings with the Illinois Secretary of State show.

The publications have drawn attention and controversy recently, as those opposed to them say they contain conservative political talking points as opposed to true news. Those same people note how the content in the mailers seems to have ramped up in the months leading up to elections since 2016.

On the flip side, those in favor of the papers said they offer an alternative viewpoint to the news, but acknowledge they often have a conservative tilt.

Steve Cortes, a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump, said in an opinion piece Wednesday on Real Clear Politics that the papers offer investigatory journalism into Pritzker’s record and are “hard-hitting and brutally effective.”

Pritzker recently threatened to pull out of a scheduled interview involving Pritzker and his Republican challenger, state Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia, but relented after Paddock Publications, which owns the Daily Herald, dropped its printing contract with Proft. The interview Friday is sponsored by the Illinois Associated Press Media Editors, which includes many newspapers across Illinois.

Pritzker the next day said he was back in, and Proft in response likened Pritzker to a king trying to shut down things he didn’t agree with.

In his tweet Sunday, Proft kept a similar tone.

“This is where we say: Thank you, Your Magnificence. You honor us by agreeing to answer questions from jesters of your court,” his tweet reads.