McHenry Times

State Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-St. Charles) doesn’t mind the company.

“I’m glad to hear more Democrat lawmakers are now also demanding that (Gov. J.B. Pritzker) share information with us about how he’s arriving at some of his COVID decisions,” Ugaste told the Kane County Reporter. “At the end of the day, we are a co-equal branch of government that should have a voice in all this.”

Citing rising infection rates, the governor recently moved to reenact COVID-19 restrictions that include banning indoor bar and restaurant service in a flood of counties spread across the state, quickly raising the ire of many small business owners still reeling from the impact of the governor’s initial shutdown just months ago.

Leading the charge among Democrats is state Rep. LaShawn Ford of Chciago, who recently charged Pritzker “can’t rule with an iron fist” on the issue.

“Taxpayers deserve to be included in this process so they can share their data as well,” Ugaste added. “Nothing for us, without us.”

Ugaste said he’s not surprised to see many small business owners taking a stronger stance against the position this time around.

“They're desperate for answers,” he said. “This is their livelihood and they’ve invested all these resources and effort into doing things safely, following all the guidelines and doing what they’ve been asked to do only to still be told that they have to shut down again. Just like that, they could be out of business and their employees out of work. This is serious business for them and they feel they need to take a stance.”

Ugaste argues if the governor feels so strongly about the data he’s using to make his decisions he shouldn’t have any trouble sharing with others to analyze.

“I don’t understand his hesitation,” he said. “I don’t understand why he keeps doing these things that are putting more people out of business.”