South Central Reporter

Don Moore, former Madison County Board member, is urging small business owners across Illinois to band together against the policies of Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), in the fight to save themselves from the lingering COVID-19 pandemic

“Small business owners have to up and fight back,” Moore told the South Central Reporter. “Right now with his actions, the governor is dealing a death blow to the entire industry that has to stop.”

As proof for his argument, Moore points to a new TrackTheRecovery.org analysis finds, that since the beginning of the year, Illinois has lost more than a third of all of its small businesses. 

Don Moore, former Madison County Board member | Contributing Photo

Data compiled by Harvard and Brown universities, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, shows as of Nov. 16, the number of small businesses open dipped by some 35.4 %. That is in comparison to the industry also experiencing a revenue decline topping 39% since January.

Moore fears all of that could be lost on Pritzker.

“He doesn’t seem to take the time to think through his edicts, especially the part about how they’re destroying businesses that these owners have been working to build forever,” Moore said.

National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Illinois State Director, Mark Grant, points out that running a small business in Illinois was already quite the challenge even before the pandemic hit, given such factors as higher property taxes and workers’ compensation.

“It’s a shame because small businesses drive this country and without them everything else stops,” Grant said. “It could be that he just doesn’t understand economics, or the fact that he’s supposed to be looking out for the people of this state above everything else. Right now, everything he’s doing is just hurting more people.”