Sangamon Sun

State Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) wants to see Springfield do what he thinks it desperately needs to do in the fight against COVID-19.

“We need to be back in session, making decisions together about what’s best for our state and our economy,” McClure told the Sangamon Sun. “That’s how our government in designed to work best.”

But with lawmakers essentially sidelined for the last several weeks, especially when it comes to the handling of the deadly virus, McClure laments Gov. J.B. Pritzker has become a one-man wrecking crew.

“One person deciding everything is not the way it was meant to be,” he said. “We need to deal with this as government. It strikes me as totally unbelievable that the Legislature would have no say in this.”

McClure argues the only think that makes less sense are some of the decisions Pritzker has made about the handling of the virus.

Earlier this month, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Springfield and downtown Chicago for demonstrations outside state government buildings where they called on the governor to pull the plug on the stay-at-home order he enacted in late March that’s led to countless small businesses being forced to shut down as a way of hopefully mitigating the spread of the virus.

“People are getting upset and that’s quite understandable given some of the rules don’t make much sense,” McClure said. “You see things like ma-and-pop stores still not be allowed to open while big-box stores are selling some of the same products and have never had to miss a day.”

As frustrations mount, McClure said he’s heard stories about some downstate state’s attorneys no longer planning to enforce the tenements of the shutdown.

“Many of us are ready to go and we need to get back to Springfield and come up with a plan that considers everything in what we’re requiring people to do,” he said.