Will County Gazette

Now that the governor has been admonished by a Clayton County judge, state Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) is hoping Gov. J.B. Pritzker finally sees the light.

“I’ve said from the beginning and still believe the legislature should be involved in the process of how to best deal with COVID-19,” Batinick told the Will County Gazette. “To me, that means having lawmakers back in Springfield and hammering out rules that make sense for the people of this state. I understand we still need restrictions, but things have to make sense for people.”  

Batinick said he wasn’t at all surprised to see a Clayton County judge rule this month that the governor overstepped his bounds in extending his stay-at-home order he enacted back in March as a way of slowing the spread of COVID-19 past 30 days.

State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) filed suit in April naming Pritzker as a defendant and charging that he had no authority to extend his executive order in which he only allowed businesses that he deemed essential to operate. The judge who ruled in the latest case previously granted Bailey a temporary restraining order, exempting the veteran lawmaker from the governor’s order.

Batinick said he worries that some small business owners and even people in other industries may be starting to feel as if they’re being unfairly targeted by the governor.

“People have pointed out things like casinos are allowed to operate at 50% capacity while the outdoor zoo can only do so at 25%,” he said. “Then, you have the way big-box businesses have been uninterrupted throughout the pandemic while many small businesses are still under certain restrictions. Things like that just seem a little contradictory.”

Batinick said it’s why all of Springfield needs to be involved in trying to come up with solutions.

“We need to have the voices of every community being heard,” he said. “This isn’t over by a long shot and that calls for us being united.”