East Central Reporter

Republican state Rep. Blaine Wilhour has a plan for how 2021 in Springfield can be different from the year that just ended.

“Let’s make 2021 the year of reform in Illinois,” Wilhour said. “We need meaningful ethics, spending, tax and pension reforms in Illinois if we are going to recover financially. We can turn our state around, but we need the help of every concerned citizen in this state to make it happen.”

Wilhour seems convinced that starts with standing up to Gov. J.B. Pritzker and what he sees as all his crippling shutdown restrictions.

A new survey by small business referral network Alignable that details how the last month saw 56% of all the state’s bar and restaurant owners unable to pay their full rent as the sting of the governor’s ongoing ban on indoor dining took greater effect.

Nationally, that figure stands at 61%, up 19% from just a month earlier with the harshest part of the winter season still yet to come. In Illinois, the number of restaurants now unable to make full rent payments has already more than doubled since September.

Again, Wilhour is imploring small business owners to take a stand by merely standing up for their rights.

“No government agency or law enforcement can just come in and tell you to shut down,” he said. “They can’t take your licenses without due process. Not complying with the governor’s recommendations is not a legal reason to pull licenses or shut down a business.”

Wilhour has long been one of the governor’s most vocal critics over his handling of the COVID crisis, thinking through what he sees as the total impact of his actions.

“That’s a factor that should have been taken into greater consideration when all these highly restrictive lockdown policies were put in place,” he told the South Central Reporter. “We’re not just talking economic calamity that results from these shutdowns. The increases in depression and anxiety are primed to take more years in life than the virus.