Kane County Reporter

Republican state Senate candidate Ben Bierly stews that Gov. J.B. Pritzker continues to do more harm than good with all his COVID-19 actions.

“Now, he’s closed down parts of Will and Kankakee counties and again it’s all small business owners that are taking the brunt,” Bierly told the Kane County Reporter. "It’s all small business owners and family-owned restaurants that are being hurt by this totally inaccurate information he’s using to base his decisions on.”

Bierly was one of roughly a dozen Will County Republicans that recently turned out for a press conference held outside the Will County Courthouse to call attention to what they see as the governor’s bumbling rush to judgment.

“The reality is this virus is proving to less and less of a real concern around here in terms of health,” added Bierly, who is running against Democrat John Connor in the 43rd District. “It’s unconscionable that the governor would be ruining these families when the data does not support it and in some cases may even be falsified. I’ve heard instances where people went for tests and never took them, but in the data they appear as having tested positive for coronavirus. At best, the numbers he’s using seem to be botched and at worse some of that may be intentional.”

Bierly said assessing what Pritzker’s motivation might be depends on who you ask, though he thinks it all has to do with politics.

 “I know it’s beyond frustrating for people and it’s really driving a lot of people out of Illinois in the name of protecting their own interests,” he said. “People want to be safe, but they also want to be able to make the best decisions for themselves and their families based on real data. The more you talk to people the more you hear the same story.”