Lawmakers: Gov. Pritzker Holds News Events, Discussions Without Inviting Republicans

From The Center Square:

By Greg Bishop

Now that he’s no longer holding daily news briefings on the status of COVID-19, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been traveling the state. But he hasn’t invited Republican state lawmakers along for what could be bipartisan causes, GOP lawmakers say.

In Springfield Tuesday, Pritzker was with a Democratic county chairperson, a Democratic state senator and organizers of a Black Lives Matter march for a roundtable discussion. Republican state Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said he wasn’t invited.

“Could we bring different perspectives to the table, absolutely, that’s what the process is all about,” Butler said. “But there’s a lot of talk about listening right now, there’s a lot of discussion right now, and you can’t have discussions and you can’t listen if not everyone is at the table.”

Asked if any Republicans were invited to that event, the governor’s press secretary said the roundtable with Black Lives Matter was “meant to be a listening session for the governor to learn from activists.”

“Sen. [Andy] Manar [D-Bunker Hill] proactively reached out and asked to attend so he could learn more,” Pritzker Press Secretary Jordan Abudayyeh said.

The governor later Tuesday stopped in Decatur at a Boys and Girls Club to highlight early childhood funding. Manar was there, and so was state Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur. No Republicans were present.

State Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, said he was not invited.

“It would have been nice to be there. It would have been nice to see the governor,” Caulkins said. “That particular facility is not in my House district but yet the people that are participating in these programs are. I felt a little slighted, to be honest, because I don’t think that should be a partisan issue.”

At a stop in Moline Wednesday for an event about child care funding with several elected Democrats, there were no Republicans.

State Rep. Tony McCombie, R-Savannah, said she didn’t get an invite.

“His continued disregard of me is fine, but to disregard the people that I represent is not fine,” McCombie said.

The governor’s office said McCombie wasn’t invited because she didn’t vote for the budget with the child care funding. The office said it would be “incredibly disingenuous” to participate in events about money from grants she voted against.

“We imagine it would be hard to explain why you didn’t support this vital program at a press conference announcing the grants,” Abudayyeh said.

McCombie said she has no problem explaining her votes.

“The budget was not a good budget,” McCombie said. “It was a budget that they did not ask for one vote from a Republican. They did not ask for any of our input, so why would we vote for something that has none of our input in it. It makes no sense.”

Caulkins said not voting for a bad budget doesn’t mean Republicans don’t prioritize education spending.

“What we spoke about in the budget was the lack of any spending reforms, the lack of any bipartisan effort to craft this budget,” Caulkins said. “It doesn’t mean that our priorities aren’t with education and some of these other programs.”

“I would hope that the governor wants to do things in a bipartisan manner,” Butler said. “Haven’t seen that a whole lot over the last few months, but I hope that he would want to. I would encourage him to reach out to us.”

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