East Central Reporter

Veteran state Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) can personally speak to the growing fraud crisis involving the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES).

"My first reaction was 'What in the world is going on here,' but this is the state of Illinois," Wilhour said in a December interview with Channel 20 news. "Everything is upside down and inside out right now." 

The veteran lawmaker shared news about his personal information being used to file a fraudulent claim he did not know of or ever filed.

Wilhour has long been a vocal critic of the system, pointing to it as a direct indictment of how Gov. J.B. Pritzker has mishandled the entire crisis that has sprung up in the wake of COVID-19.

"The unemployment benefits system in Illinois is a catastrophe for families who are trying to pay rent, put food on the table and purchase medicines," Wilhour said in an April release on his district website. "The governor needs to stop complaining about the federal government every day at his press conference and solve the problems he can control like IDES. 

The Republican lawmaker added the Pritzker has the authority to shift state employees from any department to help resolve the issues happening at the Employment Security Department or contract with the private sector to bolster the ranks. 

"No more excuses," Wilhour said in the April release "make it a priority and get it done."

Wilhour told News Channel 20 in December that with Illinois being Illinois, he isn't too surprised by what's happened.

The Republican lawmaker blamed the Pritzker administration, calling it "an unmitigated disaster in every single facet of their response to this pandemic." 

According to the latest IDES numbers, fraud claims for 2020 stand in the neighborhood of 341,000.