GOP Attacks Pritzker Over Process, Though Many Silent on Mandate Itself
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), behind, and Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) were critical of Governor JB Pritzker’s school mask mandate Wednesday, but both complained about process more than masking.
Republicans have a relatively unified message against Governor JB Pritzker’s mask mandate for schools calling his actions “go-it-alone.” Though, most Republicans aren’t actually criticizing the mandate itself.
“For over a year, the Governor cut out a co-equal branch of government and ruled the state with unilateral authority instead of working collaboratively to handle the Covid-19 pandemic in Illinois,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs). “Governor Pritzker must put this continuing power trip aside and allow local health departments, elected officials, schools and most importantly, parents, to make decisions on these serious issues to help stop the spread of COVID-19.”
Other Republicans echoed Durkin’s comments.
“The governor’s continued unilateral, go-it-alone approach on pandemic decision-making actively undermines the state’s ability to have broadly accepted mitigation strategies,” said Illinois Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods). “The Governor encourages the public to be ‘all in Illinois’, but he himself refuses to be ‘all in’ with state and local elected officials who better understand their geographic areas and their communities’ needs. If he really wants to achieve the best possible mitigation results, he would abandon this singular approach and instead bring others to the governing table to ensure that mitigation efforts will be broadly accepted by the populace and effectively implemented. By continuing to exclude other state and local leaders, he is failing the people of Illinois who need statewide coordination, input and buy in from the public.”
We asked a spokespeople for both Durkin and McConchie if they disagreed with the mask mandate itself and neither responded to our message.
Pritzker has been sued multiple times over executive orders since the beginning of the pandemic, but judges have continually upheld his authority under the Illinois Emergency Management Act.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Gary Rabine, a suburban Chicago businessman, says the issue should be left to local districts.
“This is about control – not about science,” Rabine said. “We know that kids are at a low risk for the virus. Our kids had a rough year last year thanks to Governor Pritzker’s policies. We should allow local school boards to work with parents and students to set mask policies at the local level, instead of Pritzker’s one-size-fits-all solution. We need bold leadership, and we need to protect the rights of parents to make decisions for themselves and their children. I stand opposed to Governor Pritzker’s decision to infringe on parental rights.”
Only Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), another gubernatorial candidate, openly opposed masks in schools. He said in an online news conference Wednesday
“School age children are not statistically vulnerable to critical illnesses or death from COVID-19,” Bailey said. “The Governor has not produced any new evidence to contradict these clear statistics.
But, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Wednesday nearly 40% of Delta variant cases are among children from birth to age 19. She says the infection rate among children under 10 is triple what it was in January.