Exit Interview: Rep. Dan Caulkins "Republicans Have to Stand Up"
Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur), is leaving the General Assembly after three terms.
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When Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) ran for the House for the first time in 2018, he had a hard three-term limit for himself.
Unlike some politicians before him, Caulkins is holding to his promise and stepping away after six years.
(Disclosure: I worked against Caulkins in that 2018 GOP primary.)
Caulkins, a member of the conservative House “Freedom Caucus” says Democrats who run the House have a “lack of respect” and “lack of inclusion” for any Republicans to help create policy.
“They don't care. How many times have you heard Speaker Welch stand up, and [say] ‘the people sent us here to do a job, and we're going to do it,” Caulkins said. “To completely disregard and disrespect the minority and then stand up on the House floor and complain about their minority population, their constituents, it's kind of rich.”
Caulkins and a group of conservative, mostly downstate, lawmakers had been tied together as a block for some time, known by most as the “Eastern Bloc”, until they formally created the “House Freedom Caucus” in 2022, mirroring the conservative U.S. House caucus.
Caulkins said the group didn’t receive scorn from Democrats, but from fellow Republicans.
“I think that the Republican leadership felt threatened,” Caulkins said.
Caulkins says he is most proud of constituent services provided by his office, specifically on unemployment issues during the COVID pandemic and delays in FOID or CCL cards. He has also been active in efforts to reform the state’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).
“It's a massive organization with huge serious problems. And, we've [only] picked around the corners,” Caulkins, who sits on a DCFS working group, said. “We [have] proposed no legislative changes. “We've met and talked to administrators and folks, but as a working group, in all the years that I've been on it, we've essentially accomplished nothing legislatively.”
Caulkins says Democrats should be more interested in working together with Republicans to address big issues.
“They don't care what Republicans think. They don't care what our constituents want,” Caulkins said. “And you see the shape that we're in. There are people in [the GOP] caucus that are very bright, that have real world experience. And to completely ignore that is at [Democrats’] own peril. And I think the chickens are coming home to roost.”
Caulkins said she and fellow Republicans shouldn’t bail out Democrats by putting votes on any potential tax increases to balance the budget.
“I think the Democrats are going to want Republicans to provide cover on whatever solution that they're going to come up with,” he said. “That can't work again. Republicans have to stand up against the temptation of going along on, some fool's errand of raising taxes.”
Caulkins will be replaced by Republican Regan Deering. It’s unlikely we’ve heard the last of Caulkins in public policy, though, as he says “retirement isn’t for me.”