05/10/2026
Thank you, Jason Plummer!
āThere are lies, darned* lies, and statistics.ā -Mark Twain (*almost)
When you are in elected office, you automatically sign up for a little bit of slander and a lot of misinformation. Itās an unfortunate reality of politics.
This week, I was nastily attacked regarding my presence in Springfield in a misleading attempt to impugn my integrity. The criticism of me is interesting, because while critics of mine for some odd reason may want to defend our broken system in Illinois, it gives me an opportunity to expose it.
Their entire claim that I somehow am not doing my job collapses under the slightest amount of due diligence and critical thinking. Itās laughable to everyone who knows me.
So, letās get to what matters - Facts:
In 2025, the Senate voted on approximately 730 items.
Do you know how many floor votes took place on the days I wasnāt there?
5 ā 0.68% ā and all 5 votes happened when I had the flu.
If someone wants to claim Iām ānot doing the work,ā theyāre free to but the record simply doesnāt support it.
Let me be clear, as your senator I donāt claim attendance or take taxpayer money when not doing real work.
What is my job? While my critics imply that the job of senator apparently starts and ends with hanging out at the State Capitol, I entirely disagree and refuse to play along in a manipulated system.
My responsibility as a state senator is clear ā to serve and represent my constituents.
You can attack me if you want for not participating in the Springfield charade, but you canāt criticize me for not doing my job. I do exactly what my voters elected me to do ā serve. I am in Springfield when there is work to be done, and rarely otherwise.
This all raises a bigger question - Do you want career and unaccountable politicians, or do you still want citizen-legislators?
My constituents know who I am. I ran for office as a citizen-legislator, not a career politician. I said we needed more people with skin in the game, not more politicians beholden to Springfield and various special interests. I promised to be independent. I live it every day.
My profile as a senator is also much different than many of the legislators in Springfield. I am a husband and father of three young children. I am a businessman who works very hard to create jobs, invest in our communities, and who is responsible for the livelihoods of well over 1,000 families. As a senator who sometimes takes constituent meetings in the back of a lumberyard and handles emergency phone calls from a t-ball field, this is clearly no secret.
I work tremendously hard to serve my constituents, grow a business, create jobs, and I put my family ahead of frivolity. My constituents appreciate that I live my promise to be a citizen-legislator with real skin in the game, who feels the consequences of policy, stays connected to home, is committed to family, and who delivers for them in Springfield. They donāt want me spending unproductive time in Springfield, enamored with a titleā¦nor do I have any interest in doing that.
Letās dig into some more facts because, again, these illogical attacks on me are an amazing opportunity to shine a spotlight on ways Springfield is broken and how the people of Illinois must help legislators like me change it:
Historically, Illinois has had a āpart-timeā legislature - a very good thing. I believe government is not meant to be dominated by entrenched career politicians who are completely detached from the consequences of their actions. Do they feel the pain the families and businesses of this state feel?
Unfortunately, Illinois continues to drift away from a part-time model. Itās intentional, thatās what the Democrat machine in Springfield wants to do - make it difficult for true citizen-legislators to participate. They have taken us from a model dominated by Republicans in the 1980s and 1990s when legislators spent much less time at the capitol, often also serving their communities as policemen, pharmacists, farmers, teachers, businessmen, and more, to today, where many legislators have no other full-time job. They stretch out a confusing and fluid calendar, making it almost impossible for anyone trying to serve and hold down a regular job, to participate.
The legislature convenes in January and is constitutionally scheduled to remain āopenā until May 31. But āopenā does not mean weāre in productive session at the Capitol every day ā there are many days and entire weeks during that short period of time when we are āin sessionā but literally do nothing.
I admit, when I was first elected, I didnāt fully understand how broken it was. I come from an environment where you just work hard every day. I showed up in Springfield ready to work and was taken aback by the slow pace, lack of initiative to address real problems families face, a lackadaisical attitude toward schedules, and an institutional commitment to tardiness, delays, last minute cancellations, and other shenanigans.
As I say, āThey run the schedule about as well as they run the state.ā
During my first General Assembly, I missed 3 days total. But I quickly noticed games the Democrats were played to enhance pay ā including manipulating the calendar with āgavel in, gavel outā days where basically nothing happens, but the day still counts as a āsession day.ā That means taxpayers are on the hook for extra pay even when little or no work is being done.
Democrats are in on this abuse of the calendar, but Republicans legislators go day to day (or, in some instances hour to hour) waiting in the dark to see if something will be scheduled, cancelled, changed, or moved. Theyāre held hostage by this broken system.
Quickly learning how the system worked disgusted me and made my decision easy: Iām not going to participate in the circus. A person once told me about Springfield, āwatch the roller coaster, Jason, donāt ride it.ā True wisdom.
Hereās the rule Iāve followed ever since; something I have been very public about: If I am aware of a day we will be āin sessionā but not doing substantive work for the people, I will not claim attendance or taxpayer funded compensation for it. Itās a simple rule and, importantly, it doesn't even mean I was not there, it just means you are not paying me to do nothing.
The best governments are led by citizen-legislators. Elected officials must feel the consequences of their actions. Have you seen the correlation between a stateās fiscal condition and how often their legislature is in session? How about the correlation between fiscal condition and legislator compensation? Letās just say Illinois is on the wrong side of both.
In Illinois, legislators are far better compensated than our peers almost anywhere else. We are also now in session far more than most states.
Letās take a look:
States operating similar to Illinois: New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, New York.
Some of the most efficiently operating states: Texas, Nevada, South Carolina, Wyoming.
Which group would you prefer?
Now letās look at another wild creation of the Democrat-machine, our system of committees:
Between the House and Senate, there are approximately 162 committees (Substantive Committees ā where stipends are earned by committee heads - and Subcommittees). Keep in mind that between the House and Senate there are 177 legislators, so we are darn close to having as many committees as we have legislators. In the Senate, there are 59 senators but approximately 57 committees (33 Substantive and 24 Sub).
You canāt make this stuff up. Does anyone think this makes sense or good government? Other states have a fraction of this number. You should be asking why?
Well, the reason is disheartening, but simple - it's to funnel more money to legislators. Itās a way for the Democrats to reach into your pocket and pay legislators more of your money for sometimes unnecessary and, at best, ceremonial roles. Some of these committees literally never meet, some rarely meet, and some meet for immaterial activity. More committees mean more committee leadership roles which mean more stipends for legislators.
My understanding is that this particular scam is a relic of Mike Madiganās domination of the House. While this practice is not new, it continues and expands. Madigan might be in prison, but many of his Springfield ways continue in full force with taxpayers footing the bill. I am not going along with this, and I am quite certain my constituents donāt want me to.
To be clear - my critique is of our present system, and those who designed it.
While many Republicans are forced to grudgingly participate in this process to varying degrees, attempting to do their best on behalf of their constituents, theyāre not in control. We should never lose site that it is system designed and used by a shrewd and devious Democrat machine to entrench their power and recycle your hard-earned tax dollars for their benefit. There are many great public servants in Springfield who sacrifice and work tirelessly on behalf of the people of Illinois, and who are just as frustrated as me. I have great admiration for numerous legislators, and I'm deeply honored to serve with them.
A fortunate circumstance of geography for me is that while I have a long commute, I am able and committed to commuting every day we are doing work in Springfield. A record Iām proud of is that Iāve never stayed overnight in Springfield. I promised my family that I would come home every night, and I have honored that promise since being elected. Even on those ridiculous 3:00 am voting days, I go home to my family (as I like to say, nothing good happens in Springfield after 10:00 pm). It helps keep front and centered things that matter most.
Now, letās talk about something tangible ā my record of service. People deserve to know what I do ā not just what I say:
I deliver in my district, where I prefer to be. I serve as the Republican Senate Caucus Chair, not exactly a position you earn if you are not showing up and working closely with your peers. I serve as the Republican Spokesman on two important, active committees (Executive Appointments and Financial Institutions). Again, not something you can do if you are not getting the job done. I work to pass good public policy and stop or water-down bad public policy, regardless of who gets the credit.
I live my promise of being a citizen-legislator. Most importantly, outside my role of senator, I am a husband and father, trying to be present at home, coaching youth sports, and trying to be there to āplay army manā and read the Boxcar Children to my young children at night. I am a businessman, investing in our communities and creating jobs. I am active in our communities and serve them in other capacities.
I am Blessed with a great, supportive wife and great children. I have a family, tremendous colleagues at my private-sector work, senate staff, and fellow legislators that do amazing things to help make all this possible.
These things are far more important than sitting around Springfield while nothing is happening just to go to some evening dinners and parties. I am confident my constituents prefer my priorities.
I could get into my concerns about our level of compensation, but this post is long enough, and I can save that for another day.
Letās focus on the facts:
I do not claim attendance or take a per-diem when I am not working. I chose not to participate in the legislator pension plan. I do not load up my district payroll with friends. The list goes on.
By not claiming these attendance days and not participating in some other benefit programs, I have saved the taxpayers I work for tens of thousands of dollars.
I treat this position as public service, not a career.
What is most important for people to know is that our part-time legislator model is being corrupted, shifting away from the citizen-legislator model. Many of my colleagues agree with me, but they are intentionally and slowly being deprived of the ability to be a responsible legislator and maintain a full-time job back home - maybe 2, 3, or 4 hours away ā with this crazy calendar. We need a more efficient and more accountable government.
The absurd suggestion that a senatorās work is all at the Capitol is laughable. My responsibility is to know what is going on in our district and it is providing the best constituent services ā something my team and I are known for.
Itās showing up while the fire is still raging on a snowy weekend in downtown St. Peter, itās making sure our sheriffs have the support they need when there is a serious crime, itās making sure FOID cards are processed, itās providing new services and opportunities to our communities, itās making sure that IEMA is showing up and taking care of my constituents when there is a fire in Clinton County or flooding in Marion County, itās making sure the hard-earned tax dollars my constituents pay get re-invested back into our communities, itās about holding the governor and his appointees accountable, itās about meeting with my constituents and helping people, often the most vulnerable among us, and serving when nobody knows and nobody is watching.
Itās about doing the right thing even when you get attacked for it by malicious actors. But no nasty attack or threats of intimidation are going to scare me out of doing the right thing.
I was elected and twice re-elected with growing support each election because I promised to be honest, independent, and transparent. And my constituents noticed. They elected me to represent them, they sure didnāt elect me hoping I would become a creature of Springfield.
I am humbled by the deep trust so many have placed in me. I take my responsibilities extremely seriously. I am expected to try to fix our broken system, not become part of it.
If I were skipping veto session to go to Vegas or something like that, it should be open season. Instead, you have a tiny group attempting to manipulate and mislead earnest, caring people in a desperate attempt to smear and sully my reputation. Their attacks say far more about their character they do about me.
Anyone pushing this dishonest narrative will clearly twist any fact to deceive good people. Despite knowing the truth, they make things up and attack people. It's literally their only schtick. Unfortunately, people exist who just like to try to tear others down, trying to create a toxic atmosphere around our politics. Itās a shame, because that is what turns so many people off from public service and from being engaged in the process.
But in doing so, at least they show their true colors, and they help me highlight our broken system of government. If my critics want to support and defend our rigged system, they can take that peculiar stance. But Iād rather reject it and fix it.
If you want a senator who plays the game, chases the perks, will get cowed by online bullies, or treats taxpayers like an ATM, Iām the wrong guy.
If you want someone who shows up for real work, stands up for decency and moral clarity, and serves with integrity ā thatās what I do, and thatās what Iāll keep doing.
Thank you for your trust, and for the humbling honor to serve you.
