SE Illinois News

Republican state Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) fumes Gov. J.B. Pritzker appears on the verge of turning his time in the Governor's Mansion into a full-blown dictatorship.

“He has long ago decided to do whatever he wants, regardless of what the law says,” Bailey told the SE Illinois News. “It’s all about what the governor wants; nothing or anything else seems to matter to him.”

Bailey argues Pritzker’s ongoing handling of the COVID-19 crisis is all the proof you need, adding he isn’t at all surprised with the findings in a new survey by small business referral network Alignable that concludes 56% of all the state’s bar and restaurant owners were unable to pay their full rent last month as the effects of the governor's ban on indoor dining took greater hold.

Nationally, that figure stands at 61%, up 19% from just a month earlier with the harshest part of the winter season still yet to come. In Illinois, the number of restaurants now unable to make full rent payments has already more than doubled since September.

Here in Illinois, Bailey argues none of it has to be. 

“To this day, there’s no proof, no data that indicates dining at a restaurant is any more dangerous for spreading the virus than shopping at a big box retail outlet or even walking up and down the street,” he said. “The fact that the governor would target one group over any other speaks to a lack of leadership and not being able to work with others in a way any real leader should be able to.”

Bailey said it leaves many across the state feeling as if they have nowhere to go in their fight to survive the crisis.

“There’s no help for small business owners and they feel totally left out,” he said. “Even workers have unemployment or something they can look to turn to. For these small business owners, there’s really nothing and the only choice they have is to stand up for themselves."