Dupage Policy Journal

Congressional candidate Jeanne Ives says Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “Restore Illinois” plan as a response to COVID-19 simply sets the state up for even more heartache.

“It’s unworkable,” Ives – the Republican candidate in the 6th Congressional District – told the DuPage Policy Journal. She added that the “private sector stands to be most hurt” by the governor’s five-phase plan.

Pritzker recently went public with his region-by-region strategy for restarting the economy, insisting that it factors in some parts of the state may be more ready than others to move to higher phases more quickly. But even as he points out the state is already in his plan's Phase 2, which allows nonessential stores to open on a limited basis, the governor says he doesn’t envision the state reaching Phase 5, or the point of being ready to fully reopen for business, until a vaccine or effective treatment for the virus becomes available.

With the General Assembly still sidelined and not having convened for session in Springfield for well over a month, Ives, now running against U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Downers Grove) says Pritzker has become a one-man wrecking crew with all the restrictive policy he’s enacted.

“He has no constitutional authority to keep businesses shutdown in Illinois,” she said, adding that the governor continuing to be so inflexible has only served to handcuff the state even more.

“We have to be using common sense and factual data to guide our state reopening,” she posted on Facebook. “Our hospitals are much more prepared than they were. We have much more data about the spread of the virus and who it affected most. Protecting our most vulnerable and our seniors is a priority moving forward, but these ‘one size fits all’ policies are not sustainable as we deal with the economic impact.”