Southern Illinois wants freedom, not more J.B. Pritzker coronavirus rules, folks say
Southern Illinoisans like Susan Genin decided long ago that leaders who govern from Chicago cannot be trusted.
From where Genin sits, which is Columbia in Monroe County, they created the pension crisis. They increased taxes on gas. They blew up the state’s deficit. Early projections on the spread of COVID-19 proved incorrect, Genin added.
Tensions between Chicago and southern Illinois crystallized again this week when state Rep. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, won an exemption from the stay-at-home order in a lawsuit against Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
On Friday, Bailey said he will voluntarily begin following the rules again, but only so he can revise his lawsuit with unspecified “new information.” Because of the new findings, which he did not detail as of Friday afternoon, Bailey wants to reset the case by having the restraining order vacated and the suit remain in Clay County.
“He’s one of my new heroes,” Genin, a retired math teacher, said of Bailey on Wednesday. “ ... I believe in freedom and I believe that freedom is easily lost if people aren’t careful.”
For many downstate residents, Pritzker embodies the Chicago attitude, a mix of condescension and partisan disdain. They said a case-in-point was Monday, when the governor singled out Monroe County’s high death rate.
“We don’t elect Democrats down here in our county,” said Bob Elmore, chairman of the Monroe County Board.
While she approved of Pritzker’s early response to the coronavirus, Genin grew suspicious and eventually drew the line when he failed to point out that over one-third of the county’s cases and nine out of 10 deaths there were from a single nursing home.
“I’m sorry, I can’t trust him,” Genin said of Pritzker, who has gained national attention for his swift response to the pandemic and for his criticism of President Donald Trump.
Trust is essential in a pandemic if the government wants citizens to comply with safety directives, says Wendy Parmet, a professor at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston who specializes in public health law.
“It’s really important that these laws that are being applied in a manner that feels equitable to the population. Communities need to trust that the government has their back,” Parmet told the Belleville News-Democrat earlier this month.
It’s for citizens such as Genin that Bailey filed his lawsuit, he said.
“What I’m doing is challenging the overreach of government and claiming what (Pritzker is) doing is unconstitutional,” Bailey said. “We went for two months without anyone questioning his authority. That time is come.”
Chicago and downstate
Chicago has long been a favorite target for downstate Republicans.
It was inevitable that tensions between Chicago, Springfield and southern Illinois would flare during the pandemic, said Sheila Simon, a law professor at Southern Illinois University and former lieutenant governor under Gov. Pat Quinn.
A favorite campaign refrain is to brand Democratic opponents as “puppets of Chicago,” Simon said. But there’s also legitimate concern among southern Illinoisans about the virus, she added.
“I think we’re just as much in danger as everyone,” Simon said.
Genin, the retired teacher, agrees coronavirus is a threat and that people should be careful as businesses begin to reopen. But she said she doesn’t see the point in “destroying our economy,” which she believes will also cause death through poverty and lack of access to health care.
Bailey said his lawsuit is not motivated by regional animus. He wants county health departments to control local response to the pandemic and for the state government to “leave us alone down here.”
“That’s all we’re asking. We’re not asking for everyone to go out to McDonald’s or stand out in a park or get together in a building,” Bailey said. “We’re simply asking that these rules he has made become locally governed.”
The Illinois Attorney General’s office challenged the judge’s ruling exempting Bailey from stay-at-home orders by filing at appeal with a higher court, the state’s fifth appellate district. The attorney general also filed for leave to take the case to the Illinois Supreme Court, the governor said Wednesday.
Pritzker revisits regional approach
If lawmakers could reconvene in Springfield, they might be able to address the issues his lawsuit raises, Bailey said. But this isn’t the first time southern Illinois Republicans have felt steamrolled. When Pritzker signed a law to increase the minimum wage, Bailey wished his district could have had different rules than Chicago.
“Unfortunately, when it comes to situations of power and control in Springfield, there is no working together,” Bailey said.
Pritzker said Wednesday it’s up to the legislature to decide if they want to go back to Springfield. Because they are considered essential personnel, lawmakers are allowed to return at any time but have to take measures to avoid spreading the virus.
“They do have the ability to make their own rules and their own decisions and that’s something that’s completely on them,” Pritzker said during his Wednesday briefing in Chicago.
After minimizing a similar lawsuit filed by another state representative the governor explained Wednesday that he views a “regional approach” to reopening businesses in terms of hospital bed availability.
“Rather than the way people sometimes talk about regions of the state, ‘Well, I live in southern Illinois, I live in Little Egypt,’” Pritzker said, “they’re all great ways to identify different areas, but the way we look at it is about health care.”
The governor said his office continues to have conversations with downstate leaders about reopening businesses. He also said he loosened rules slightly for regions with fewer cases in his most recent executive order, and he said Wednesday he plans to continue to loosen those rules.
Then on Friday, the governor said he would consider gradually opening regions prior to May 30 that have seen infection rates and intensive care unit bed occupancy decreases for 14 days in a row.
“More will come,” Pritzker said Wednesday.
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
