South Cook News

When it comes to the COVID-19 crisis, Republican state House candidate Eric Wallace finds no solace in being able to predict what Gov. J.B. Pritzker will do next.

“The governor again has overstepped his authority,” Wallace told the South Cook News in the wake of the governor recently moving to reenact COVID restrictions in at least 24 different counties after citing rising infection rates,

“He should not be moving backward by shutting down private businesses,” added Wallace now running against Democrat Patrick Joyce in the 40th District. “They should repeat the protocols and remind people of the spike in the virus. He can do what he wants with state entities but not private businesses.”

Given the increasingly high stakes, Wallace said he isn’t surprised to now see small business owners fighting back, including launching a Facebook page where owners planning to defy his order can go to strategize and vent their frustrations.

“I respect the right of the small business owners to sue the governor and to defy his order,” Wallace added. “In fact, I believe a court has nullified the governor’s authority to shutdown privately owned businesses. Pritzker is killing the goose that lays the golden egg. In other words, he is destroying the state’s source of tax revenue. He is exacerbating the problem by making it difficult for businesses to survive and employees to work. The tax base is being dismantled.”

In the end, Wallace argues Pritzker simply seems incapable of relating with many of the people he’s supposed to represent.

“The governor is a billionaire who doesn’t feel the pain of those who have to work for a living or run a business,” he said. “He doesn’t understand the unintended consequences of his actions, and people will not forget this come 2022.”