Chambana Sun

A downstate lawmaker laments Illinois has worked long and hard to land the dubious spot it holds in a new WalletHub.com survey.

“Our government over the last 30 years has made it a point of making this state as unattractive place to work as possible,” state Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) told the Chambana Sun. “We’ve taken great pains to drive out major employment or to make the environment so toxic for them that many of them are trying to leave.”

The end result is a new WalletHub survey finds the state now ranks near the top of state economies most vulnerable to the coronavirus crisis. The findings are based variables that include having no rainy day fund to speak of and being home to the lowest share of workers with access to paid sick leave.

“People were leaving Illinois in droves for some of those reasons before the virus ever hit,” Caulkins said. “We were already losing jobs, wealth and citizens and this pandemic is only going to make it worse.”

With so many people hurting like they are, Caulkins said he hopes more of them will now take more of their destiny in their own hands.

“I would hope that the people of Illinois, regardless of their politics, will come to realization that what we’ve done running this state to this point has been a disaster,” he said. “The people running the state have spent every dime they could get their hands on and more. I think this crisis is going to expose all the corruption, over spending and cronyism that we’re plagued by. This emergency is going to expose it all and prepare it all, and unless we get serious about things like reforming pensions, I don’t know how we’re going to recover. We need new direction in Springfield because the leaders we have haven’t proven themselves to be capable of doing what needs to be done.”

Caulkins points to the fact the state has no reserves to help it over the hump during this crucial period as further prove for his position.

“How can you expect to have a rainy day fund when you’re billions in debt and can’t afford the pay the bills you have because of all the new spending?” he said.