SE Illinois News

Illinois state Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) is hoping a Clay County judge’s upcoming ruling will finally put an end to what he sees as Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s runaway crime spree in his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We suspect that this ruling will mean everything the governor has done with his executive orders has been illegal,” Bailey told the SE Illinois News. “The governor has been on a rampage that has to stop for the good of the people of this state.”

Judge Michael McHaney is slated to rule on May 22 in a suit filed by Bailey challenging the legality of Pritzker extending the executive order he enacted in late March that forced countless businesses across the state to bolt their doors. This month, the judge ruled against the governor’s motion to have the case transferred to Sangamon County in a change of venue filing.

With the governor now threatening to strip all counties that defy his order of federal funding and criminally charge small business owners that do so, Bailey says the judge’s ruling can’t come a minute too soon.

“The governor just continues to change his model without sharing any of the facts or data for his actions,” Bailey said. “He’s been a one-man army in enacting policy and that’s not the way government was ever intended to work. We are the voices of the people across the state and none of what we have to say seems to matter in this critical moment.”

Bailey said it all translates to more heartache and hardship for small business owners across Illinois.

“[Pritzker's] making things harder for them at a time when we all need to be pulling together to get past this crisis,” he said.