McHenry Times

Three Republican senators insisted that Gov. J.B. Pritzker should be working with legislators, saying that his “unilateral control over every aspect of the COVID-19 response must end.”  

In a joint opinion piece, Sens. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry), Sue Rezin (R-Morris), and Don DeWitte (R-St. Charles) reiterated that the governor should stop working and handling the state’s situation alone. The same content was posted on Wilcox’s Facebook page.

The senators called on the governor "to work with lawmakers, business and healthcare community leaders, and other key stakeholders on a better path forward for Illinois.”

It was on March 19 last year when the governor declared his first stay-at-home order.

“None of us knew when the governor asked us to stay home temporarily that a full 12 months later key areas of our lives would still be upended.” It has been “TWELVE MONTHS, 76 EXECUTIVE ORDERS, AND ZERO INPUT BY LEGISLATORS,” they said.

They also argued that since the Restore Illinois Plan was crafted, Pritzker has been moving the goalposts. What remained unchanged since then is that there have been “zero opportunities to weigh in on COVID-19 policy decisions.”

“The authors of the Illinois Constitution never intended for one individual to assume almost full control over the running of the state for months and months, and they never intended for the executive branch to become the policy-making branch,” the senators stated.

They ended their statement stating that “The governor must stop disenfranchising Illinoisans who sent specific legislators to Springfield to act on their behalf, and together, we must work collaboratively to help those who have endured a disproportionate share of hardship (to) rebuild.”