As the Chicago Bears have waffled over the past year on where to build a new stadium, one constant has been Gov. JB Pritzker’s skepticism about providing major public dollars to help fund the project.

But during that time, Pritzker has spent $100,000 in taxpayer funds for an outside legal consultant to advise the state in discussions with the team, and the Bears have brought on an outside adviser with close ties to Pritzker’s political operation and other Illinois Democrats, records show.

The maneuvers suggest talks between the two sides have gone deeper than has been portrayed publicly and shed new light on some of the behind-the-scenes positioning that has taken place during the yearslong push for public dollars or changes in state law that could help facilitate the construction of a team-owned stadium.

The revelations came to light after the Bears’ new adviser — a longtime political consultant who worked on local fundraising for last summer’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago as well as on Pritzker’s first campaign for governor in 2018 — reached out to the governor’s chief of staff in a late April email sent just weeks before the Bears confirmed to the Tribune that the team was shifting focus for stadium plans back to redeveloping the former Arlington International Racecourse.

“Hope you had a great weekend in NY,” Leah Israel wrote to Pritzker’s chief of staff, Anne Caprara, in an April 28 message sent to Caprara’s personal email address and obtained by the Tribune through an open records request. “As you know, I’ve recently started working with the Chicago Bears and I’d appreciate it if we can have a meeting to share a direct update and address your feedback about the current plan. I believe there are many benefits for the state and the plan would deliver significant wins for the administration.”

The email, which was also sent to a former Pritzker staffer who is now the Bears’ chief lobbyist in Springfield, indicated that, “per instruction,” team representatives had been meeting regularly, including earlier that day, with Pritzker’s outside adviser — Steve Argeris, a New York- and Washington, D.C.-based sports, media and entertainment lawyer who formerly worked for the owners of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.

The meeting Israel requested with Caprara took place last week, according to the governor’s office, which said the conversation largely encompassed an overview discussion of the team’s renewed interest in relocating to the northwest suburbs.

Amid intense interest in the Bears’ stadium push, Pritzker’s office has acknowledged meetings between top aides and Bears brass and even a breakfast meeting Pritzker had last summer with team President and CEO Kevin Warren. But the administration previously had not publicly discussed Argeris’ role in advising the state.

“As the Chicago Bears have been discussing various stadium proposals and financing models for more than a year, the governor’s office felt it was important to conduct due diligence and fully understand all the facts that could impact state taxpayers,” Pritzker spokesperson Matt Hill said in response to questions from the Tribune. “Our office retained outside counsel with deep knowledge and expertise in professional sports team finances and the regulations of national leagues to ensure we could independently analyze and understand any potential impacts on taxpayers and the state.”

The state’s yearlong contract, set to expire in mid-June, was signed with Argeris’ previous employer, international law firm Hogan Lovells.

Argeris, who did not respond to requests for comment, moved earlier this year to Weil, Gotshal & Manges, where he is a partner in the firm’s private equity practice, according to a news release.

While Argeris has continued to engage with Bears officials about the team’s stadium plans, the state has not made any additional payments to Argeris or his new firm, according to the governor’s office.

Argeris’ role has involved meeting with Bears representatives, analyzing the team’s proposals and breaking down how they would affect Illinois taxpayers, according to the Pritzker administration. He also has advised the governor’s office on how the state could potentially generate revenue from a stadium project.

The governor’s office did not provide specifics on the frequency of Argeris’ meetings with the Bears or with state officials.

The Bears, meanwhile, declined to discuss specifics about the team’s meetings with the state and Argeris.

“Over the last few months, we have made significant progress with the leaders in Arlington Heights, and look forward to continuing to work with state and local leaders on making a transformative economic development project for the region a reality,” team spokesperson Scott Hagel said last week in an emailed statement.

The team also declined to answer questions about why it retained Israel’s firm, Lilette Advisors, in its negotiations with the state or what the company’s duties have entailed.

A team source said the firm was retained because of its experience with mixed-use development projects across the country, though the company doesn’t detail any such experience on its website. Instead, the company describes itself as “a boutique, full-service strategic advisory firm deeply rooted in the intersection of government, media, and politics.”

“We specialize in developing strategies and messages to help our clients win, no matter the challenge,” Lilette’s website says.

Aside from reaching out to Pritzker’s chief of staff, Israel’s role in working with the Bears remains unclear. She declined to comment through a spokesperson.

Neither Lilette Advisors as a firm nor Israel as an individual was registered to lobby state officials in Illinois until May 22, after the Tribune inquired about their role in the team’s discussions with the Pritzker administration.

The firm, which previously was registered to lobby on Capitol Hill on behalf of clients including spirits-maker Pernod Ricard and North America’s Building Trades Unions, registered in Springfield to lobby only Pritzker and his office on behalf of a single client: CBFC Development — the Bears’ development arm.

Although light on experience in the sports world, Israel’s résumé shows deep ties to Illinois Democrats.

Pritzker, in a news release last year, praised Israel by name for her role in the Chicago DNC’s $94 million fundraising effort, and his senior political adviser called her “the very best in the biz” in a social media post sharing a news story on the host committee’s record-setting haul.

In 2018, Pritzker’s first campaign for governor paid a prior Israel firm more than $70,000 for fundraising consulting, state campaign finance records show. And his campaign fund last year paid another firm of Israel’s about $1,500 for “event production,” records show.

Israel also was national finance director for U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s campaigns from 2011 to 2019 and chief development officer for the 2020 DNC host committee in Milwaukee, which went largely virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It remains to be seen whether the Bears’ new hire or the Pritzker administration’s work with an outside adviser will lead to any major movement in Springfield on legislation to help the team with its stadium plans.

The moves follow a pendulum swing by the Bears in which the team is turning its attention back to building a stadium complex and mixed-use development on the former racecourse it owns in northwest suburban Arlington Heights a year after pitching a plan to build in the shadow of Soldier Field.

The change comes because the team and Mayor Brandon Johnson failed to get any significant backing for last spring’s plan to construct a $5 billion domed stadium development on a revamped lakefront.

With the focus now back on the 326 acres the Bears own in Arlington Heights, the team has indicated it’s looking for approval of a measure that would allow for negotiations with local governments over property tax bills for large-scale developments.

But with the legislature facing a shaky budget picture and other major challenges ahead of its scheduled Saturday adjournment, winning support for such a plan — which is sure to be met with stiff opposition from Chicago lawmakers — is no guarantee.