Sangamon Sun

State Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) thinks Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s uneven response to the COVID-19 pandemic has come at a steep cost.

“A lot of things he’s put into effect really don’t make a lot of sense and in the end it could cost us a lot of our small businesses that may not be able to come back from everything,” he told the Sangamon Sun. “We’ve got to get our economy back up and running and I think all the latest data shows we can do that in a safe way.”

In the meantime, McClure said Pritzker is only making the sting of the crisis more painful to deal with by the way he’s picking winners and losers.

“What sense does it make that big-box stores like Walmart can sell shoes while the small business store owner has to keep his doors closed?” he said.

McClure argues even some of the changes the governor enacted at the time he announced he was extending his statewide stay-at-home order through the month of May does not make much sense.

“For example, you can now go golfing, but you can’t get a cart even if it’s separate from the person you’re golfing with,” he said. “A lot of the decision-making, as far as what you can do and can’t do, just doesn’t make much sense.”

McClure said he also takes great exception with the way Pritzker has more or less run things as a one-man show.

“I think the legislature should be involved in the policy decisions that are being made,” he said. “We are three branches of government and the General Assembly needs to have a voice in this.”

Since Pritzker moved to enact his stay-at-home order back in late March, forcing countless businesses to bolt their doors, the state’s unemployment rate has ticked up to 4.6%.

“We are already in a massive hole and as long as this goes on the hole just gets deeper and deeper,” he said.