McHenry Times

Veteran state Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) is calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to be true to his own standards.

“The governor still won’t say when he will lift restrictions and allow indoor dining even though some regions have met the metrics he set,” Ugaste said. “He’s always claimed he’s doing this to make sure people are safe, but the mitigations still have to make sense.”

Pritzker’s latest restrictions went into place several weeks ago, at which time the governor said he anticipated it only being in effect for a few weeks. 

Ugaste is also busy pushing for the governor to involve the legislature in his decision-making related to the virus, as opposed to continuing to govern through executive actions.

“At the end of the day, we are a co-equal branch of government that should have a voice in all this,” Ugaste said. “Taxpayers deserve to be included in this process so they can share their data as well. Nothing for us, without us.”

As the virus has lingered and the stakes have grown higher for many small business owners desperate to survive, Ugaste said he’s not surprised to see many more owners now taking a tougher stance against the governor’s policies.

“They're desperate for answers,” Ugaste 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.”