The Illinois Republican Party released the following statement yesterday:
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has spent a considerable amount of time appearing on national television news programs to complain about President Trump and the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile back in Illinois, the Governor’s administration is falling behind other states on ramping up testing, administering a functioning safety net for newly-unemployed individuals, and providing leadership on when and how we reopen Illinois’ economy.
"The Governor should do less complaining and more delivering for the people of Illinois. Every moment Pritzker spends whining on CNN or Meet the Press is a moment he isn’t solving Illinois unemployment claim disaster or catching up to other states on testing capacity. Leadership isn’t about mastering the blame game; it’s about owning up to your failures and getting things done.” – ILGOP Chairman Tim Schneider
On Testing…
Illinois continues to be in the bottom half of states for testing capacity. On the measure of the number of tests performed per capita, Illinois has fallen behind states like Mississippi, North Dakota, and Hawaii. Over a month ago, Pritzker promised Illinois would soon administer 10,000 tests per day. Not until this Wednesday did we even come close to that number.
In Minnesota, Democratic Governor Tim Walz announced his state would soon be performing 20,000 tests per day, more than double Illinois’ current capacity (even though Minnesota has less than half as many people).
On the Unemployment Claim System…
Reports are still rolling in on the completely overloaded unemployment claim system administered by Pritzker’s Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). Pritzker recently dismissed as “complaining” a press conference held by House GOP leadership on the topic of failures at IDES and the harm it’s doing to unemployed workers.
Other states have adapted and fixed their claim backlogs. New York partnered with Google to roll out a new and improved platform for New Yorkers to file claims quickly and efficiently online in addition to hiring hundreds of new state workers to process those claims. California and Florida took action by redeploying hundreds of state employees to the front lines of the claim system – an action Governor Pritzker says he does not have the power to do.
On Leadership and Planning…
One of the pillars of great leadership is the ability to provide hope and a vision for the future to those you lead. So far, Governor Pritzker has failed to adequately discuss what would need to happen to reopen Illinois other than “signaling” vague notions of different metrics he is looking at. Other state leaders – including Democratic Governors – are providing for their citizens a concrete path to reopening their economies.
Governor Whitmer of Michigan has announced that she will start loosening economic restrictions as soon as tomorrow. Governor DeWine of Ohio has begun a multi-phase reopening of his state’s economy and announced that elective surgeries can start being performed again. And earlier this week, Governor Evers in Wisconsin unveiled his “Badger Bounce Back” plan.
