Businessman Willie Wilson threatens to sue Illinois to pay for face masks

Businessman Willie Wilson is threatening to sue the state of Illinois unless Gov. J.B. Pritzker sets aside money to help poor people buy masks to wear in public places during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Pritzker issued an executive order this month requiring people in stores and other public places where they can’t socially distance to wear some kind of face covering.

While the governor’s order said coverings could be fashioned from pieces of cloth or shirts, Wilson in a letter to the governor argued that people may not be able to do that, and said “scientific studies suggest that T-shirts, bandannas, scarves, and tea towels offer insufficient protection from the virus.”

“People should have the very best masks,” Wilson said Tuesday. “Poor people aren’t going to have masks. They’re going to try to go into stores and be put out because of that.”

If the governor doesn’t amend his order by Thursday to help fund the purchase of masks, Wilson said he would sue in federal court “to compel you to include provisions for the indigent and vulnerable.”

Asked to comment on Wilson’s letter, Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abuddayeh responded with part of a Cook County Circuit Court finding in which a judge ruled against a request for a temporary restraining order blocking Pritzker’s mask requirement from taking effect. The court ruling notes that the governor’s order allows homemade masks and does not say that “people must buy masks that are expensive or hard to find in stores.”

Wilson, a two-time mayoral candidate who runs a medical supply company, has offered to sell millions of disposable face masks to the city of Chicago. He has also donated a large number of masks to aldermen and community groups in the city to hand out, while sparring with Mayor Lori Lightfoot over how best to make sure Chicagoans are able to comply with the face covering requirement.

Wilson said he isn’t trying to position himself to profit from the sale of masks to the state. “Well, I gave away 5 to 7 million masks already, so that certainly wouldn’t be the motive,” he said.

Wilson wants to run as an independent against U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in the fall election. The threatened lawsuit isn’t a move to raise his profile, he said. “No, my profile’s already raised,” he said.