Lake County Gazette

Former Republican House hopeful Jim Walsh (District 62), fumes about how Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s (D) persistent scare tactics has only made a crisis situation worse across the state.

“The hyperbole the governor has used to describe the COVID situation is doing as much harm as anything he’s done,” Walsh told the Lake County Gazette. “I can’t understand why he thinks that’s in the state’s best interest. It’s obvious the state is becoming more crippled by the day.”

Walsh argues the numbers bear that out, pointing to a new TrackTheRecovery.org analysis that finds since the dawn of 2020, Illinois has lost more than a third of all its small businesses.

Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker | Wikipedia commons

Overall, data compiled by Harvard and Brown universities and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation shows as of Nov. 16, the number of small businesses open dipped by some 35.4% compared to January of this year with the industry also experiencing a revenue decline topping 39% since January.

“The only reason I can think of for why the governor might be doing this is he’s trying to get ready for a 2024 presidential run and he thinks playing to the base in this way is a good thing,” Walsh said. “Other than that, I can’t fathom why he would think shutting down the economy is a good thing. All I know is everything he’s doing is damaging the state and something needs to be done.”

National Federation of Independent Business Illinois State Director Mark Grant points out that running a small business in Illinois was already quite the challenge even before the pandemic hit, given such factors as higher property taxes and workers’ compensation.

Walsh said he often wonders if any of that truly matters to Pritzker.

“I really don’t think he cares about the consequences his actions hold for people,” Walsh said. “The governor only seems to think about what’s best for him. With all the damage he’s done, it’ll probably be a whole before we see our small business industry flourish again.”