Quincy Reporter

Enough is enough, says Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider.

Longtime political activist Mecki Kosin agrees. The state GOP is suing Gov. J.B. Pritzker in federal court and Kosin is cheering it on.

“Gov. Pritzker is ruling Illinois like an unaccountable king where only he gets to decide which violations of his executive order have his blessing,” Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider said in a statement.

“The Illinois Republican Party will not sit idly by while the governor of Illinois applies one rule for himself and his political allies and another rule for everyone else. We agree that peaceful protesters have just cause to exercise their First Amendment rights, but they aren’t the only ones,” Schneider said. “The days of Gov. Pritzker picking winners and losers is coming to an end. The hypocrisy has to end. The violation of our First Amendment rights has to end.”

The Illinois Republican Party’s quadrennial convention was held virtually because of Pritzker’s orders. That meant in-person collaboration, networking and training were all lost during a election year.

Kosin, 69, told Quincy Reporter that’s not how American politics is supposed to work.

“Yes, I totally agree with the chairman! This totalitarian governor needs to be stopped,” she said. “It is about time the GOP stood up against him. This COVID pandemic has become a total political tool. There is an election in November, and it seems the Dems will do anything to keep power. This is not about a virus, it is only about power.”

Kosin, a Quincy resident, was born in Germany and came to the United States in 1972. Married with two grown children and six grandchildren, she is active in Republican politics, serving as secretary of the Adams County Republican Central Committee as well as working as a GOP precinct committeewoman and president of the Quincy Tea Party.

“I watch politics very closely, and tell those elected exactly what I think, good or bad,” Kosin said.

She is appalled that Priztker is, in her view, blatantly favoring liberal causes and events in an election year. Schneider said it is obvious what is happening.

“The 2020 general election is five months away and the only opposition to Pritzker and Illinois Democrats’ control is indefinitely barred from meeting for normal party functions,” he said. “This isn’t the first time Gov. Pritzker has played by a different set of rules. When restrictions barred travel to vacation homes and the governor lectured Illinoisans daily about not crossing state borders, Pritzker’s family was traveling to and from their equestrian estates in Florida and Wisconsin.

“And now, we see Pritzker continue to restrict funerals, weddings, festivals, youth sports — and political gatherings  — at the same time he marches with thousands of protesters on a crowded street.”