In response to the criticism from Republican officials surrounding the resolution to re-open Madison County, Chairman Kurt Prenzler’s conduct before the vote is coming into question. Prenzler released the plan to his supporters through his campaign’s email list late Friday, May 8th when the resolution was not passed and released to the public until Tuesday, May 12th.
The email also included a story from the Belleville News Democrat finishing with a plea for a contribution to his campaign.
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The fact that Kurt Prenzler would send an email to his supporters promoting his re-opening plan asking for contributions before the vote was even held is beyond disappointing, but not surprising. After all, this is the same man who hired his Campaign Manager to a $95,000 job to “manage” the county’s coronavirus response.
While I respect the Board’s decision to vote for this resolution, Kurt Prenzler clearly made it political when he sent it to his political supporters via email ahead of the vote and asked for a campaign contribution,” said Harris. “Before most county board members, mayors, or other local officials had a chance to even review it, Kurt Prenzler was sending it to his political supporters and asking for a campaign contribution, I don’t know how it gets more political than that. I stick behind my original message when I said Kurt Prenzler was playing politics with people’s livelihood and safety.
The facts are clear, Kurt Prenzler’s re-opening plan was pushed for one reason, politics. His plan has no protections for workers, does not require employers to provide PPE for their employees and provides no enforcement mechanism whatsoever for businesses that do not protect their employees or their guests.
- Randy Harris, Madison County Democratic Party Chair
