Rockford Sun

Republican state House candidate Kathie Hansen fears Gov. J.B. Pitzker might have ulterior motives for weighing another state shutdown order.

“We do have an election coming up in a few weeks and many Democrats have already indicated they hope the economy continues to struggle until after the election because they think it makes President (Donald) Trump look really bad,” Hansen told the Rockford Sun. “It makes no sense to continue to penalize the small businesses in his state like that. So many have already been forced to shut down and others are still reeling from the first shutdown. How much more does Gov. Pritzker think these small businesses can really take?”

Citing rising COVD-19 infection rates that have recently soared to the point that at least 11 counties are now at “warning levels” for the spread of the virus, Pritzker recently pronounced the state is at a “danger point” for other level of shutdown.

While state health officials have identified Cass, Gallatin, Jackson, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Perry, Randolph, Saline, Sangamon, St. Clair and White counties, Hansen, who is running against Rep. Maurice West Jr. (D-Rockford) in the 67th District, wonders if the governor has the legal standing to further police any of them in the way that he's outlined.

“I don’t think he has Constitutional authority to just enact another shutdown order,” she said. “At this point, for him to even try something like that he has to take it before the General Assembly and have them hash it out.”

Ever since the outbreak of the virus, Hansen argues she’s never quite understood why the governor has unfairly levied some of the levies he has against small businesses.

“It’s like they’ve been targeted while all the big-box operators like Walmart have been spared,” she said. “Personally, I think it would be safer to go into a small business to shop than a larger one where there are a ton more people.”