Carbondale Reporter

Former Jackson County Republican Party Chairman Chris Grissom wishes Gov. J.B. Pritzker weren’t so thin-skinned, especially in the midst of a crisis.

“We’ve got to find a way to be safe and open up our state for business,” Grissom told the Carbondale Reporter in response to the governor’s handling of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “Part of the problem is the governor takes all criticism personally and seeks punitive retribution against anyone that has something to say different from what he does.”

With opposition to the stay-at-home order he first instituted back in March now rising, the governor recently threatened to withhold federal funding from all local counties and seek criminal charges against small business owners who defy his order by reopening their "non-essential" establishments before receiving authorization.

“It seems that politics have just taken over everything and that’s something accounting for the haphazard way we’re seeing things being done,” Grissom added. “I can remember a time when good government was considered good politics. Those days are gone and now it’s just politics 24/7.”

Grissom said he hoped the seed for change would be planted when lawmakers reconvened in Springfield for a three-day session last month.

“Gov. Pritzker isn’t the only leader that should have a voice about how we respond in this crisis,” he said. “I’ve always said the more heads there are the better ideas you’re probably going to get.”

Grissom also said that looking to the November general election, he hopes voters will reject the proposal for a progressive tax.

“That didn’t make sense before and definitely doesn’t make sense now," he said. "You can’t budget with what you don’t have or when you don’t know for sure what you’re going to have. It just makes for bad fiscal policy.”