North Egypt News

State Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona) argues residents all across the state continue to pay a heavy price for Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis. 

“Our system of government is based on checks and balances,” Jacobs told the North Egypt News. “The Legislature should be involved in a crisis like this. We should have demanded some accountability of the executive branch of government but instead the leaders in the House and the Senate decided to sit on the sidelines and let the Governor do whatever he wanted to do. The majority party in the House and the Senate has failed the people of this state.”

Jacobs isn’t alone in his thinking, with a Brownstone Institute study branding Pritzker a “complete fail” based on his handling of the crisis. The study composed data from every state from March 2020 through April 2021, giving special attention to whatever mitigations leaders enacted over that timeframe.  

Researchers added “there’s a special place for governors that locked kids out of classrooms for a year and a half, ordered sick COVID-19 patients back into nursing homes, did not practice their own orders, shut down tens of thousands of businesses and still couldn’t beat the U.S. average in COVID-19 deaths or excess all-cause deaths.”

Jacobs charges Pritzker has never thought in terms of what stands to be in the best interest of the entire state.

“Gov. Pritzker is only interested in appeasing the far-left wing of his party,” he said. “He has no interest in trying to find common ground with the people of my district. It is his way or the highway. It would have been nice for the governor to meet with those of us who represent southern Illinois Districts and at least try to understand our point of view. That never happened. All we got was mandates, lockdowns, and ultimatums.”

Jacobs laments much of it never had to be.

“His actions have created tremendous divisions in our state – divisions that could have been avoided if he had simply been willing to work with us to find a suitable compromise,” he said. The Governor’s heavy-handed approach created more problems than it solved.”

Jacobs said he finds it telling that the governor’s wife and daughter have spent most of the pandemic in Florida.

“If Pritzker really thought his lockdown policies were the only way to confront COVID-19, he would have not let his family spend time in a state like Florida,” he said. “This just confirms what we already know – the governor’s policies are not about protecting public health – they are about control. Period.”

The Prairie State Wire reported Theodora “Teddi” Pritzker spent the New Year’s Eve in the Bahamas in a nightclub environment without a mask after her father urged residents to stay home.

“We need to get back to normal. If you want to wear a mask – wear a mask. But if you don’t there is no reason at this stage in the pandemic for people to be forced to wear them,” Jacobs said.

 Jacobs said he thinks people all over of the state are worse off under Pritzker’s rule.

“I have been vaccinated and boosted,” he said. “I am not against vaccines, but I am against mandates. People should be able to make their own healthcare decisions. Pritzker’s mandates have done tremendous harm to our economy and to our kids. These senseless mask mandates are hurting our kids’ development and social skills. These policies have hurt a lot of people and we are definitely worse off as a result of his ‘leadership.’”