Metro East Sun

State Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) doesn’t think Gov. J.B. Pritzker is making any fans with his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There are a lot of people being hurt by the governor’s orders and the fact that there are so many contradictions in the way they’re being implemented only makes it harder to accept them,” Plummer told the Metro East Sun. “People’s frustrations will only grow if state government doesn’t become more transparent and accountable.”

All those raw emotions were recently on full display when protesters turned out for demonstrations outside state government buildings in Springfield and downtown Chicago where they demanded that the governor pull the plug on the order that forced small businesses across the state to close after the government deemed them nonessential.

“The average Illinoisan takes this crisis seriously, but the lack of transparency and accountability is making it harder for them to deal with the restrictions,” Plummer said. “You’re already seeing people show that they’re probably at their breaking point. I’ve argued for a long time a one-size-fits-all answer to a situation so extraordinarily fluid is not appropriate, and I think a lot of people in the state agree with that.”

As for the contradictions, Plummer said many of the people he talks with wonders how the governor can justify shutting down mom-and-pop stores while allowing big-box retailers to remain open and sell the same kind of merchandise.

“I think that the governor is continuing to handle this crisis in a way that clearly is not appropriate in terms of measuring the long-term consequences and in terms of really evaluating the data we need to be responsive to,” Plummer said. “If we’re not making decisions off the latest data, that’s very problematic. We need to be reacting in a reflexive way and that’s just not what’s happening.”