Prairie State Wire

Illinois House candidate Peter Breen (R-Lombard) views the coronavirus crisis as the “worse public health crisis of our lifetime” and thinks lawmakers need to respond accordingly.

“There’s no time for politics,” Breen told the DuPage Policy Journal. “I understand that some people were not really sure this was a pandemic when everything started, but by now we all should only be concerned with doing what needs to be done to get us pass this point.”

Breen, running against incumbent state Rep. Terra Costa-Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) in the 48th District said that starts and ends with keeping politicians focused on the task at hand.

“Government overreach and abuse of power are always concerns,” Breen added. “You see instances of people reaching for things that have nothing to do with us beating this disease, and that does nothing for the cause.”

In Champaign, a city ordinance has been enacted that gives the mayor and City Council the power to do everything from limit gun sales to ration utilities and seize private property. The newly approved legislation also gives leaders the power to impose emergency curfews, bar residents from public buildings and shutter businesses over the next 28 days.

While city attorney Fred Stavins stressed that no added actions are currently being called for and that the policies have actually been part of the city code for more than a decade, Breen argues that’s the kind of overreach that will only make returning life to normal more challenging.

“None of those things have anything to do with beating the coronavirus,” he said.

And while Breen applauds Gov. J.B. Pritzker for instituting the stay-at-home order, which experts have indicated could go a long way in slowing the spread of the virus, his praise for the state’s top lawmaker ends there.

“I don’t want to put the focus on Pritzker, but I will say he is going to have to answer for a lot of negativity and failure when this is over,” Breen said. “His continued vicious criticism of President Trump and the federal government are not helping at all. If there are not enough supplies in Illinois, it’s his fault not Trump’s because the state is the frontline. Every criticism he makes of Trump is a criticism every resident of Illinois can level at him.”