Lake County Gazette

Dan Yost (R-Antioch) fumes the level of incompetence being shown by Springfield lawmakers amounts to throwing fire on the still-raging coronavirus pandemic.

“The failure of Springfield to develop a comprehensive plan to re-open Illinois for business will simply force Illinois businesses and the families that rely on them, from one crisis to the next,” Yost, who is running against incumbent state Rep. Joyce Mason (D-Gurnee) in the 61st District, told the Lake County Gazette. “This pandemic has taken a terrible toll on families, workers, small business, and an already beleaguered Illinois economy.”

Yost points to all the recent data that shows an increasing number of small business owners are stressing they won’t be able to survive much longer under current conditions as they’ve been forced to absorb more than what they believe is their fair share of the fallout.

“As a state, we were not financially prepared to handle this crisis, let alone the economic slowdown we can expect to follow,” Yost added. “Any plan to re-open Illinois for business and save our jobs has to go beyond testing, tracing, and isolation.”

Even as they struggle to jumpstart the economy and get business re-opened as soon as possible, Yost argues lawmakers have to keep an eye toward the future.

“Springfield should be working now to address the systemic issues that will prevent Illinois families and businesses from recovering long term, including property tax reform and abandoning the proposed progressive income tax,” he said.