Lake County Gazette

Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) accused Gov. J.B. Pritzker of being less than sincere when the governor backpedaled about his mention in "a scathing report" related to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at LaSalle Veterans’ Home.

"Once again, our Governor is trying to control the narrative — this time with a scathing report by the IL Inspector General on the massive failings within our Department of Veterans' Affairs as it relates to the massive COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans' Home," Wilcox said in an April 30 Facebook post about the report. 

Wilcox also criticized how the independent report issued by the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Inspector General's and the law firm of Armstrong Teasdale was released, complaining that area journalists had it before legislators.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker | facebook.com/GovPritzker

"I'm Minority Spokesperson for the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and I'm first reading about the report in the media rather than reading the actual report that should have been sent to us at least at the time the media was given pieces, if not the whole report," Wilcox said.

Wilcox's posted his comments to Facebook the day after Pritzker was quoted in a Chicago Tribune story saying he regretted appointing former Illinois state House Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs. Pritzker's regrets followed the 50-page Illinois Department of Human Services Inspector General report dated April 26 that said failures in leadership compounded with lack of COVID planning lead to an outbreak at the LaSalle home.

Four cases at the home were reported by Nov. 1, and the virus spread to 60 residents and 43 employees, while staff with little direction struggled in an environment that was "inefficient, reactive and chaotic," the report said.

Thirty-six veterans died in the outbreak.

The report specifically named Pritzker and Chapa LaVia. Chapa LaVia "ultimately declined" interview requests during the investigation that led up to the report, which alleges that Linda Chapa La Via "abdicated" her responsibilities as the director, delegating them to a non-medical member of the staff.

In his comments published in the Tribune, Pritzker said he hired Chapa LaVia in part because the former Aurora legislator is a veteran and was “an ideal person to root out the problems in our veterans' homes,” given her panel experience investigating Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at the Quincy facility.

Pritzker said he now wishes he had not appointed Chapa LaVia.

"I have to admit that if I knew then what I know now, I would not have hired her," he said.