Chambana Sun

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s banning of a popular radio reporter from his daily news briefings is a double standard, according to an advocate and former public official.

As previously reported in Prairie State Wire, AM 560 co-host Amy Jacobson was labeled a non-“impartial journalist” after she reported that Pritzker’s family members had left for Florida and Wisconsin rather than stay in Illinois during the COVID-19 lockdown.

“My understanding is that he really banned Amy because of some affiliation with an alt-right group but the notion that they're banning impartial or biased journalists is pretty funny in today's world,” said Scott Tarpley, a former spokesman for the Champaign County Board.

Jacobson was reportedly informed via email that her access to Pritzker’s daily online media conferences was revoked May 19 by his press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh who allegedly accused Jacobson of attending a political rally organized by critics of Pritzker’s COVID-19 shutdown orders.

“The governor makes rules for you but not for himself,” Tarpley told Chambana Sun. “That’s standard operating procedure for the left.”

Jacobson broke the story May 15, that Pritzker’s spouse and children were living at the family’s horse farm in Florida, which was acquired by an entity associated with . Pritzker for $12 million during the same week he was elected in 2018, according to media reports.

"Now I’m hearing that Gov. Pritzker has a 1,000-acre horse farm in Kenosha, Wis.,” Jacobson tweeted May 14. “That‘s where the family is tending to the animals tonight. You know, essential workers while the rest of us have been deemed ‘non-essential.’”

Dine-in restaurants, bars, nightclubs, entertainment venues, gyms, public events, gatherings and convention centers have been closed since March under an order that expired May 31 at which time the state was expected to move into Phase 3 of reopening the economy. The SW Illinois News reported that the order was based on special emergency powers granted to Pritzker through the Emergency Management Act although a 30-day disaster proclamation ended April 9.

“His wife traveled out of state during the shutdown while everybody else is expected to stay home but all of the left's rules are that way,” Tarpley said in an interview. “They want to ban free speech for you but they want free speech for themselves. If the left didn't have double standards, they wouldn't have any at all.”

Last week Pritzker announced Phase 3 of the state’s plan will begin with restrictions and limited capacity, according to media reports.

The Department of Health reported, as of June 1, there were 120,260 coronavirus cases statewide and 5,390 deaths.