East Central Reporter

Illinois State Sen. Jason Plummer recently spoke about the structural issues in the Illinois Republican Party.

"We must reform the Illinois Republican Party and affiliated organizations such as the political arms of the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus and Illinois House Republicans if the GOP is ever to become a governing party again in the Land of Lincoln," he said on Chicago Tonight. "I enjoyed a brief conversation with former AG nominee Thomas DeVore and former IL GOP Chairman Pat Brady on Chicago's WTTW News WTTW - Chicago PBS. The beating we took last week - not in the Metro East, mind you - must be a clarion call to rid the party of grifters, hangers on, anyone comfortable with the status quo, and those focused on self rather than service. Republican voters, volunteers, and donors must demand competence, hard work, selflessness, strong character, and results from elected officials, party officials, staff, and consultants."

Plummer went on to explain that Illinois has a structural problem. 

"Regardless of the election cycle, regardless of names that you know people like to talk about," Plummer said. "The fact of the matter is what we've done in Republican politics would be equivalent to sending the Chicago Cubs out onto the field without bats or gloves—you know you've got to put your team in a position to win, and that includes, you know, county party organizations, precinct committeemen, get-out-the-vote efforts, all of that blocking attack on your basic politics. You know the Republican Party and the various entities affiliated with it just haven't invested, you know, correctly and in the infrastructure it takes to be competitive and that's what we have to fix."

Over the last few months, Plummer has spoken out on a variety of topics, including Chicago public schools. 

"This is immoral and unacceptable but no longer shocking," he said in a Facebook post, quoted by the Metro East Sun. "As a society, we sit back and watch young kids being set up for a hard life because of politics. In Illinois, education is often no longer about providing students the knowledge and skills they need to be productive members of society. It's often about political donations, unions, votes, patronage and jobs, budgets, indoctrination, and many other things none of which are focused on kids." 

Plummer also shared information from Wirepoints' analysis of the state's unemployment figures. The most recent data ranked Illinois' unemployment rate as the worst in the nation.

"I literally don't know what could be more compelling to the average Illinoisan, Wirepoints," Plummer said in an Oct. 24 Facebook post, quoted by the Sun. "Yes for jobs and lower taxes, no for corruption and higher taxes. Vote Republican."