Will County Gazette

State Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) warns Gov. J.B. Pritzker is dangerously approaching a point of no return for the Illinois economy.

“The policies of this administration are severely damaging small businesses across the state,” Oberweis told the Will County Gazette. “We need to open up or we will lose a lot of these businesses forever.”

Oberweis laments the state could already be well on its way to reaching that dark place, pointing to a new survey by small business referral network Alignable that details how last month saw 56% of the state’s bar and restaurant owners unable to pay their full rent as the sting of the governor’s ongoing ban on indoor dining continues.

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. In Illinois, the number of restaurants now unable to make full rent payments has already more than doubled since September.

Oberweis argues all the governor’s lack of transparency and double standards just make it harder to accept what he sees as his wayward policies.

“If it is safe for people to shop at Wal-mart, then it is safe for them to dine in at a restaurant which is providing social distancing and whose employees are masking,” he said. “We need to open up Illinois and we need to do it now.”

Oberweis has long been a staunch critic of Pritzker’s handling of the virus, recently reasoning that the governor has unfairly targeted small business owners for many of his harshest restrictions.

“Bars and restaurants are doing what the state asked them to do,” he said. “These businesses are just trying to stay afloat. There has to be a better way than forcing businesses to lock down again.”