Will County Gazette

In many ways, veteran state Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) argues Gov. J.B. Pritzker has become his own worst enemy.

“I think what’s led people to this point and place is the fact that there are no public hearings about all the COVID decisions the governor is making,” Batinick told the Will County Gazette. “Any time you’re dealing with a crisis and you’re making decisions like this you have to have public buy-in and he’s done nothing to earn that from people that are being hurt from these decisions.

With the stakes being as high as they are, Batinick said he’s not surprised to see more people now taking a stand, including McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally, who is now vowing not to enforce the ban on indoor dining the governor recently enacted across the region.

Batinick added he sees the governor’s growing threats of stripping businesses that violate his orders of state licenses as just more of the same kind of flawed thinking.

“I think everybody realizes that we need to be back in Springfield right now and what’s messing things up for the governor is the fact (state House) Speaker (Mike) Madigan doesn’t want to be there right now,” he said. “The whole state needs answers and the speaker is doing a good job of staying out of the spotlight right now for his own reasons.”

Batinick argues small business owners are among those suffering the most.

“With all the shutdowns and restrictions, they’re fighting for life and they need us to be in session trying to figure things out,” he said.

The state’s longest-tenured lawmaker, Madigan now finds himself at the center of an ongoing federal corruption probe involving ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme where all the perks were allegedly steered to him in exchange for favorable legislation.