Rumors had been circulating that Hynes, the scion of prominent Southwest Side political family, would be going once Manar was brought in. 

Hynes had been in charge of state budget and financial matters, but his portfolio on occasion slipped over to include legislative matters as well.

The personnel shift comes just days after the state Senate failed to pass a major clean energy package that has been a top Pritzker priority.

Pritzker announced the shift at the end of a morning news conference and praised Hynes profusely for his service to the state. 

Sources close to the governor say Hynes was not pushed out, and that he’d always planned to leave the administration before the end of the governor’s term because he has children in or about to enter college and he wanted to make more money.

As deputy governor, Hynes was paid $278,000 a year.

Hynes was elected as Illinois Comptroller in 1998 and announced in 2009 he wouldn’t seek a fourth term in that office. He ran for governor in 2010, losing in the Democratic primary to Gov. Pat Quinn. After leaving the comptroller’s office in 2011 he joined Fort Myers, Fla.-based Foster & Foster Actuaries & Consultants. In 2012 he became a senior vice-president at Chicago’s Ariel Investments. He joined the Pritzker administration starting with the transition team in November 2018.