Prairie State Wire

Republican State House candidate Peter Breen of Lombard doesn’t see any good that can come from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s unilateral control over the state’s most pressing issue.

“He has imposed unilateral rules on the people of Illinois, many of which don’t make sense based on the situation,” Breen told the Prairie State Wire. “One man rule is inconsistent with everything we know about good government. Yes, we face a significant situation, but we are not at war to the point where martial law needs to be imposed.”

Breen, now running against incumbent state Rep. Terra Costa-Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) in the 48th District, argues much of what the governor has done cannot be rationalized, including the creation of his “Restore Illinois” plan for restarting the state economy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor’s five-phase plan calls for a region-by-region reopening that takes into account some parts of the state may be ready to resume business operations quicker than others. But while the governor says the state is in his plan's Phase 2, which allows nonessential stores to operate at reduced levels, he says he doesn’t envision the state reaching Phase 5, or being ready to fully reopen for business, until a vaccine or effective treatment for the novel coronavirus becomes available.

Breen argues such an approach effectively leaves the governor in the role of arbitrarily picking winners and losers.

“The rules for allowing which businesses can open and shut have no clear reasoning,” he said. “Along the way, people are losing their livelihoods and homes because of these decisions.”

Breen adds in places like DuPage County the governor’s statewide stay-at-home order seems like overkill.

“Most of the coronavirus deaths here are occurring in long-term living facilities and among our vulnerable population that have preexisting conditions,” he said. “What that says to me is those people need to protected and those who are at risk need to be allowed to safely resume economic life. I believe we can maintain social distancing without destroying our economy.”