GOP candidates criticize Pritzker’s handling of fatal vet home COVID outbreak

[May 10, 2022] By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Republicans looking to take on Gov. J.B. Pritzker in November are focusing in on the deaths of 36 veterans at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home that occurred under Pritzker’s watch.

Last week, the Illinois Auditor General issued a report saying that the Pritzker administration did not respond to the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak at the home in November 2020.

“From the documents reviewed, [Illinois Department of Public Health] officials did not offer any advice or assistance as to how to slow the spread at the Home, offer to provide additional rapid COVID-19 tests, and were unsure of the availability of the antibody treatments for long-term care settings prior to being requested by the [Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs] Chief of Staff,” the report’s key findings said.

Pritzker was asked last week if he’s taking responsibility for the outbreak. He said the state agencies under his control are his responsibility.

“But there’s no way that you can see across 50,000-plus people in your government as governor exactly what everyone is doing," Pritzker said.

Four years ago, Pritzker attacked then-Gov. Bruce Rauner’s handling of a legionnaires disease outbreak that began in 2015 that killed more than a dozen veterans at a home in Quincy.

“This was a cover up all along,” Pritzker said during that October 2018 debate. “Remember that Gov. Rauner knew about this, his administration knew about it. Days went by without notifying people. People got sick as a result of that.”

State Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, said the buck stops with Pritzker.

“It’s downright embarrassing that we have a governor who blames everyone but himself,” Bailey, a Republican candidate for Illinois governor, said. “Excuses won’t bring our veterans back and excuses won’t provide solutions or assurance that this won’t happen again.”

Entrepreneur Jesse Sullivan, lso a candidate, said in a social media video standing in front of the LaSalle Veterans’ Home that what happened in November 2020 is unacceptable.

“It was four years ago that J.B. Pritzker was slamming Bruce Rauner when he was running for governor that his failures at the Quincy Veterans’ Home made him unfit to lead,” Sullivan said. “By his own definition, J.B. Pritkzer is unfit to lead the state of Illinois as our governor.”

Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin held a news conference Monday and said what happened rises to the level of criminal negligence.

“Absolutely, what we’re talking about today rises to the level of negligence where somebody has to be held responsible for the death of our … 36 heroes that could have been prevented and avoided,” Irvin said. “Their families deserve for J.B. Pritzker to answer as to why he allowed their loving family members, heroes to the state of Illinois, to die and perish without concern.”

Attorney Max Solomon, also a GOP candidate for governor, said he’s not willing to go that far just yet, and would leave such a decision up to the Illinois Attorney General or federal investigators. But, Solomon said Pritzker’s excuses don’t help.

“Everything was just wrong, wrong, wrong,” Solomon told WMAY Monday. “And of course they try to shift the blame, that’s what he does, shift the blame and he’s got to own this one.”

Former state Sen. Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, said the auditor general’s report is “not just heartbreaking, but it shows how deep the systematic failures of our governor run.”

“I was taught in the military that if you are in charge, you take responsibility,” Schimpf said in a statement. “As a hands-on governor, my staff would’ve known to call me the minute the outbreak occurred. As a disengaged and out-of-touch governor, Pritzker wasn’t even called when 7 veterans died in the LaSalle home on Veterans Day. This is not the type of state leadership our veterans or residents deserve.”

Businessman Gary Rabine posted on Twitter last week about the auditor general’s report.

“For this reason alone, JB Pritzker should never be elected Governor again,” Schimpf wrote. “Ignoring the health of our Veterans is simply unforgivable. Now he’s trying to pass the buck.”

Beverly Miles, a Chicago-area nurse and U.S. Army veteran, is running against Pritzker on the Democratic primary ballot. She issued a statement that she is appalled at the reported failures to safeguard America’s war heroes.

“As a veteran nurse who works at the VHA Hospital, I understand how Healthcare Systems work,” Miles said in a statement to The Center Square. “Obviously, Governor Pritzker overlooked the seriousness of the LaSalle Home which led to fatal consequences. Additionally, there is no excuse for what happened at the LaSalle Home. Our American war heroes deserve better and JB Pritzker does not deserve a second chance to fail us again.”

The primary is June 28.

Greg Bishop reports on Illinois government and other issues for The Center Square. Bishop has years of award-winning broadcast experience and hosts the WMAY Morning Newsfeed out of Springfield.