Lake County Gazette

Republican state Senate candidate Chris Kasperski is hoping Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s scare tactics won’t work when it comes to getting his way when the state legislature ultimately responds to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Threatening to withhold the federal funds that the state received to dispense to county and local governments will not compel people into obedience if they already stand to lose everything,” Kasperski, running against incumbent state Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake) in the 31st District, told the Lake County Gazette. “His condescending attitude toward people's lives and livelihoods that his orders are destroying is disgraceful. Those funds are not his to disburse at his will and pleasure.”

Faced with growing resistance to the stay-at-home order he enacted in late March and recently moved to extend through the end of May, the governor recently spoke of withholding funding from counties that reopen before his executive order expires. More recently, he said he may be willing to have law enforcement take action against businesses that reopen before he has outlined.  

“To be justified in extending his stay-at-home order, Gov. Pritzker needed to exercise his authority to convene the General Assembly and to ask for an extension,” Kasperski said. “He refused to do so, as he benefited from their absence by maintaining this status quo for as long as he can. Our state has among the most stringent standards for reopening, and it is entirely a function of unchecked executive power.”

Kasperski added that he’s bothered by the governor’s habit of only upholding the law when it seems to support his position.

“The statute that the governor used to declare this state emergency only provided him with 30 days of emergency powers,” he said. “The governor cannot renew his proclamation in perpetuity and expect to maintain the same legal standing by ignoring the other branches of the government. The arbitrariness of his order needs to be debated and checked by the people's representatives and the courts.”

In the end, Kasperski said he worries about the impact it all will have on small business owners across the state.

“Many small businesses were unjustly labeled as ‘nonessential,’ while other companies were confoundingly included,” he said. “These businesses do not need the demeaning insult of the governor threatening to withhold their funding and pull their business licenses. They need leaders who will do what it takes to help them survive.”