OSWEGO, Ill. (May 6, 2022) – Kendall County Chairman Scott Gryder released the following statement in response to the Illinois Auditor General’s recent report showing Governor J.B. Pritzker and senior officials at the Illinois Department of Public Health were fully aware of the Covid-19 epidemic at the LaSalle Veterans Home and failed to take quick action to address it, ultimately costing 36 lives:

“As the son of a veteran with grandfathers who survived Pearl Harbor and D-Day, I believe our Nation’s veterans are our heroes. Their service inspired me to enter the public arena, and ensuring promises made to them are kept is a responsibility I do not take lightly.

Which is why I am saddened and outraged to learn that Governor Pritzker and his senior leadership team failed to exert every possibility in keeping the veterans in LaSalle safe. We have known about the heartbreaking failure to protect the veterans at the LaSalle Veterans Home since 2020, and we have heard appallingly little from Democratic leadership, including Lauren Underwood who seeks to represent LaSalle County.

Lauren Underwood sits on the House Veterans Affairs Committee in Congress and is a member of both the Health, and Oversight & Investigations panels. Underwood not only had a responsibility to our veterans to push for an investigation, as a member of the Democrat majority, she had the ability to get something done.

Lauren Underwood should have called for immediate investigation to hold those responsible accountable. Instead, she chose to ignore this devastating outbreak to avoid offending her political patrons, undeniably a dereliction of duty to protect our veterans when most needed.

As liaison to Kendall’s Veterans Assistance Commission, I’ve learned the difficulties many of these brave men and women face when dealing with intolerable bureaucracy. In Congress, rather than duck the hard realities veterans face, I will honor our veterans and take action to restore accountability.”

Currently serving as Kendall County Board Chairman, Scott Gryder is challenging Lauren Underwood for the future of Illinois 14th District on behalf the brave men and women who served our Nation with honor and deserve accountability from their elected leaders.

To Learn more about Scott Gryder, please visit www.scottgryder.com where you can sign up for news from the trail. Follow Scott on Facebook @ GryderforCongress, or on Twitter @ Gryder4Congress.