South Central Reporter

Illinois state Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) is fuming that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s faulty handling of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to put almost everyone in an impossible situation.

“Almost all of law enforcement, especially in our part of the state, wants nothing to do with these executive orders and have said they’re not going to be enforcing them,” Wilhour told the South Central Reporter. “They're not saying that because of the way they feel about the order, but because they think it’s illegal to enforce. They’re being told by lawyers if they enforce the governor’s executive order, they could be sued for personal liability.”

Facing more and more resistance to the stay-at-home order he first enacted nearly two months ago, the governor recently vowed to get law enforcement involved against any small business that moves to open prior to the timeline he has outlined. Before that, he talked about stripping away federal funding for all counties that acted in a similar fashion.

“I really believe now it’s just all part of the political narrative he’s trying to sell,” Wilhour said. “He’s getting a lot of attention for what he’s doing and he’s got other political ambitions. People gave him the benefit of the doubt in the beginning, but at this point even people in the city are frustrated with how things are going. It makes no sense to still have these draconian policies in place.”

And yet, Wilhour said he thinks he knows why that it is.  

“What we’re seeing is a man that is desperate to maintain the control he has carved out for himself,” he said. “Everything that’s being done is being done by threat, but he never talks about what law people are supposedly breaking by standing up to him. People know their rights and that he’s trying to suppress them.”