GOP candidates criticize Pritzker’s handling of fatal vet home COVID
outbreak
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[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.”
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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. |