Will County Gazette

Republican state Rep. Margo McDermed (R-Frankfort) wishes Gov. J.B. Pritzker would spend more time focused on the job he was elected to do.

“All the czar of Illinois seems focused on is finding a way to destroy our small business industry,” McDermed told the Will County Gazette. “I think he would be better served concentrating on things he was elected to do, like protecting people in our veterans’ homes and prisons and leaving our small business people alone.”

Much of McDermed’s outrage stemmed from a new survey by small business referral network Alignable. The survey found that over the last month, 56% of all the state’s bar and restaurant owners were unable to pay their full rent as the governor’s ongoing ban on indoor dining took greater effect. The governor instituted the ban to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Nationally, that figure stands at 61%, up 19% from just a month earlier, with the harshest part of the winter season still yet to come, according to the report. In Illinois, the number of restaurants unable to make full rental payments have more than doubled since September.

“Why the governor would be doing this when all the data shows restaurants are not overly responsible for the spread [of] the virus just makes it harder to take,” McDermed said. “I put all the trouble we’re having on this directly on the governor’s shoulders because, again, he’s concentrating on things he has no control over. [I’m] hoping voters will stand up and hold him accountable for all of this.”

McDermed said she worries about the long-term impact Pritzker’s actions figure to have on the entire state.

“I think people that own businesses being forced to lose everything they’ve worked for definitely has consequences,” she said. “I don’t see things being the same in Illinois for a long time, especially when you consider we’ll probably have one of the slowest recoveries because our environment for businesses is already so toxic to begin with.”