Will County Gazette

State Rep. Margo McDermed (R-Mokena) isn’t surprised to see Gov. J.B. Pritzker losing control of a situation she argues he should have never been put in to begin with.

“We have to ask ourselves why he’s been in sole control of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic given there are three branches of government,” McDermed told the Will County Gazette. “If House Speaker (Mike) Madigan won’t call us back to Springfield, the governor needs to because what you're seeing is people are tired of one-man rule and restrictions that don’t fit their situation.”

Hundreds of protesters recently gathered for demonstrations outside state government buildings in Springfield and downtown Chicago where they called on the governor to put an end to the statewide stay-at-home order that has forced more small businesses to shutter over the last several weeks as a way of hopefully slowing the spread of the virus.

McDermed has long been a critic of the way the governor has gone about handling the situation.

“His one-size-fits-all, with that size being what’s happening in Chicago, has never worked,” she said. “People want a regional approach that takes into account how things are in the place and area they actually call home.”

McDermed said a group of female Republican lawmakers recently sent a letter to the governor encouraging him to be more flexible in his thinking, but never received a response back. 

"We represent all sectors of the state and want him to be taking advice about how to fix things from more than just his team of Chicago doctors,” she said. “That, and a few random phone calls to a handful of legislators, is not my idea of getting input from both sides of the aisle.”

McDermed said we’re already starting to see some of the consequences of the governor’s actions.

“Some people have already stopped complying with his order,” she said. “People want their health to be good, but they also need to be able to provide for their family and we need to work on that balance. If you’re really worried about health and small biz, I would think you would be taking the ideas we're presenting into serious consideration.”