Lake County Gazette

Former Republican House candidate Jim Walsh believes the state’s record-setting job losses last year are symbolic of a sickness in the economy that runs far more profound than the COVID-19 virus.

“I think only about 20% of those losses are related to COVID,” Walsh told the Lake County Gazette. “The rest are related to all our bad policies like high taxes and overregulation, plus the way the governor [J.B. Pritzker]  has made the impact of the pandemic worse by being too controlling and making decisions such as what businesses are essential while closing down all the rest.”

Illinois lost more than 423,000 jobs in 2020, which was approximately 7% of the workforce. The losses were represented in every metropolitan area of the state. In Chicago, where unemployment numbers were the worst, rates more than tripled over last year ending in December 2020 at 8.7%.

With Pritzker still seemingly intent on being a one-man army when it comes to the state’s handling of the virus, Walsh believes that the suffering is not over.

“I think the problem of seeing so many of our small businesses forced to close or owners choosing to relocate elsewhere will continue because it seems the governor still hasn’t learned his lesson and the General Assembly is still on board with him in allowing him to have his way,” he said.

Walsh said his advice to Republican lawmakers is to continue standing up to the governor and making voters aware of the harm he thinks his policies are causing.

“In the end, we’re going to need to elect more Republican representatives to give us the kind of government we want,” he said. “Right now, we don’t have a representative government in that the impetus for everything that happens is coming from Chicago while the people in the western and southern part of the state don’t have a voice.”