SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois State Museum and its satellite locations are officially closed due in part to the budget impasse, despite the fact that no one at the facilities has been laid off. So, now what?

Caption: Illinois State Museum.  Will Stevenson/Illinois Radio Network
Caption: Illinois State Museum. Will Stevenson/Illinois Radio Network

For State Senator Andy Manar, that’s a good question he can’t necessarily answer.

“I’m still unclear as to why the Governor took the steps that he did to close the museum,” says Manar (D-Bunker Hill). “That began by circumventing the legislative and legal processes to close the facility.”

State Representative Sue Scherer says it doesn’t make sense to close facilities but leave workers in tact.

“I don’t know what the workers are doing inside, when their patrons are being forced to stand outside,” says Scherer (D-Decatur).

Manar says he thinks the closure is nothing more than a ploy by Governor Bruce Rauner to exert control he doesn’t deserve over lawmakers.

Lawmakers don’t return to session until later this month.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>