Metro East Sun

Illinois state Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) says he has not heard from Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker about the COVID-19 pandemic, and that he was not informed of new coronavirus restrictions targeting the Metro East area of the state, as Pritzker has publicly stated.

“There’s been no communication at all to let us know that this decision was coming down and that our region is now going under new restrictions,” Meier told the Metro East Sun.

Meier was responding to Pritzker's Aug. 16 tweet that said, “Working with local officials in the Metro East region and across the border in St. Louis, we are implementing stricter mitigations that account for the unique factors in this region."

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker | File photo

This was also the first time that Meier says he heard of any problem that Pritzker has with the neighboring state of Missouri.

“When we've dealt with Gov. Pritzker on different issues with the Missouri border in the past, it never seemed to bother him that Illinoisans will go over there and buy things because their taxes are less,” Meier said. “Now, all of a sudden, he's worried about St. Louis, but he doesn't seem to listen to us very well. We need to be in session. We are supposed to be an equal branch of the government.”

According to the mitigation plan, Metro East is in Region 4 and includes the counties of Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington.

“I guess Gov. Pritzker thinks people don't realize that he's lying,” Meier said. “He may be talking to my Democratic colleagues, but I have four counties that I represent and all four counties are in Region 4. There was no contact made with me about this."

Pritzker posted a second tweet on Aug. 16.

“With the Metro East region now surpassing an 8% positivity rate for three consecutive days – a trend I've made clear would trigger stricter mitigations – @IDPH and I are announcing new efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19.”

In Madison County, there had been 3,289 cases and 87 fatalities, compared to 50,902 and 2,148 deaths in far-larger Cook County, as of Aug. 19, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).

Statewide, there have been 211,889 coronavirus cases and 7,806 deaths, according to the IDPH dashboard.

“When we did not have hardly any COVID-19 cases down here at all and Chicago had such terrible cases going on, we were all locked down the same as Chicago,” said Meier. “Now, all of a sudden, he can change regions and shut our region down, but Chicago doesn't have to pay the price that our region is paying.”

Last weekend, the police issued a citation to a wedding party taking place at the American Legion in Breese County because there were more than 50 people attending, according to Meier.

When asked about Illinois Sen. Jason Plummer’s (R-Springfield) response on Twitter to Pritzker's new restrictions, Meier said Pritzker does not talk to Republican politicians.

“This is a joke,” Plummer tweeted on Aug. 16. “Please specifically name the elected officials you've talked to in the last week in these counties, @GovPritzker.”

“The governor doesn't reply back to us,” Meier said. “I have a letter to him right now that he hasn’t responded to. I sent another letter to the governor after we had the recent flooding at Scott Air Force Base and he hasn’t answered.”