Chambana Sun

Republican state Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) is ecstatic to see voters finally take back their power.

“I think what we’re finally seeing are constituents demanding more from their representatives,” Caulkins told the Chambana Sun as a sudden movement among Democrat lawmakers is now demanding that Gov. J.B. Pritzker hold public hearings to justify his latest COVID-19 restrictions. “Democratic voters are suffering under these actions, too, and many of them have had enough.”

Citing rising infection rates, the governor recently moved to reenact COVID-19 restrictions that include banning indoor bar and restaurant service in a flood of counties across the state, quickly raising the ire of many small business owners still reeling from the impact of the governor’s initial shutdown.

“This is about the economy and the livelihoods of people trying to survive, and politics shouldn’t have anything to do with it,” Caulkins added. “As lawmakers, we all need to be coming together to give ourselves a voice and our constituents a chance in all this. This is about holding government accountable and calling attention to all the bogus science that’s making a bad situation even worse.”

Caulkins maintains he’s long argued that lawmakers remaining silent as the governor continues to make such critical decisions unilaterally serves as a disservice to everyone.

“It further erodes the confidence of the people of this state when they see the governor acting in this way,” he said. "I believe one of biggest contributors to the way more people are speaking out against the governor this time around has to do with them having lost faith in him and no longer considering him a leader. I truly believe if we held a no-confidence vote right now the governor would come out on the sort end of the results.”