Lake County Gazette

Illinois House candidate and Ela Township Trustee Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich) says there were no surprises from Gov. J.B. Pritzker in his State of the State address last week in Springfield.

“Like with most things said and done by the governor, there was just a whole of lot of nothing with the speech,” Bos, currently running against incumbent state Rep. Mary Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville) in the 51st District, told the Lake County Gazette. “He can make whatever statements he wants, but has shown no ability to back things up. I know if he wanted to he could force changes, but when he and other Democrats are the recipients of the corrupt system in Springfield, that’s never going to happen. Appointing another task force is not going to do it for this situation. We need to come down hard, enforcing a zero-tolerance standard when it comes to doing the things we need to turn this thing around.”

A good representative of the current leadership's impact on the state can be seen in a recent report by the Illinois Department of Employment Security in conjunction with the Bureau of Labor Statistics that found that Illinois' job creation lagged far behind the national average in 2019. The Illinois Policy Institute notes that last year marked the state's slowest job growth in the first year of any governor's elected term since the start of Rod Blagojevich's second term in 2007.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker

Bos is among a growing legion of lawmakers who believe that the first step toward reform would be to ensure fair elections.

“Enacting fair maps would be a first step toward change in Springfield,” he said. “We need maps that are actually reflective of the people of that community, and not just in the best interest of keeping someone in office. That gives power back to the people. No change along those lines simply means more families will be leaving Illinois and even greater burden will be put on those that are still here.”