Tom Devore has solicited plaintiffs to sue the Governor for the unconstitutional semi-automatic rifle ban. DeVore sent out a release calling it inappropriate for a non-lawyer politician like Dan Caulkins to solicit clients in need of legal representation.
Caulkins said DeVore’s lawsuit created a lot of interest in his district and he contacted a local attorney and asked if they could start a new lawsuit on behalf of folks in Macon County.
“I went out and let people know we were going to file and I told people they could be supporters and if they wanted to donate to the cause they could end money to my campaign,” said Caulkins. “It’s been very transparent from the beginning. This is a legal fund that will pay for our attorney fees. I told people that if we had more money than what we need then that will be used to defend our Second Amendment rights.”
DeVore said a campaign account can, under campaign finance law, contribute money to non-for profit organizations.
“What you can’t do is use campaign money for your own personal legal fees… if you’re gonna spend money on legal fees it has to be associated with your political activities, and this lawsuit that was filed by Mr. Caulkins, in his individual capacity, he can’t use campaign funds and you certainly can’t use that money to pay for some association that doesn’t exist,” said DeVore. “You can give it to Gun Saves Lives and National Rifle Associations because those are non-profit organizations.”
Caulkins said there is an association and it does exist and it’s called “Law-Abiding Gun Owners of Macon County” and he says legally all it takes to be an ‘association’ is any two or more people who come together for a common purpose. Caulkins is of course talking about a ‘voluntary unincorporated association’…. and he said that association has several hundred people who has come to Dan Caulkins and the attorney named in the lawsuit
Caulkins filed the lawsuit in his personal capacity outside of his official position and is the lead plaintiff. Other plaintiffs are Law-Abiding Gun Owners of Macon County, a voluntary unincorporated organization, and Perry Lewin and Decatur Jewelry & Antiques. Inc. The lawsuit was filed in Macon County.
Tom DeVore said six individuals felt misled by Dan and reached out to him and expressed that they were upset that they have been added to an association,Law-Abiding Gun Owners of Macon County,” that they have never heard of. So now, DeVore filed a request in that case for the judge to issue an order saying, ‘We are not members of this association and we are not plaintiffs in this case.’
Dan Caulkins said he is sorry if people felt misled but has been very clear that is people felt this was not what they thought it was he would give those folks their money back.
“When you break this down in legalese, there’s all kinds on improprieties and that doesn’t necessarily mean that it was done in bad faith,” said DeVore. “Non-lawyers shouldn’t engage in any type of legal activity because they don’t know what they are doing.”
Caulkins also said his attorney has talked with Tom DeVore and Caulkins offered to pay Tom $5,000 for using his lawsuit arguments in his own lawsuit. Tom said he refused the money.
“He thinks he is smarter than anyone else,” said Caulkins. “We will see him in court.”‘
Dan Caulkins said Tom is on a rampage and he doesn’t know why and that his lawsuit is sound. Dan Caulkins said out of 900 people maybe 12-15 people asked to be taken out of the Law-Abiding Gun Owners of Macon County Association and 5-6 people have asked for a refund on their donation.
The reason Dan Caulkins didn’t want to name all these 900 people as plaintiffs and have the attorney in this lawsuit go through that proces is because it opens the door for the defendants, Governor Pritzker, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Senate President Don Harmon and Speaker of the House Chris Welch, to depose every one of the plaintiffs.
“The judge could grant them the right to call each one of those people in individually and depose them as to their standing in that case,” said Caulkins.
The attorney general’s office has over 400 people working for them and they could include in that deposition…’I want to know every gun that you have and I want to know every safe that it is in and I want to know everything about your FOID card.’
“Do you really want to subject yourself to that and is Tom Devore going to sit through hundreds and hundreds of depositions and defend you in front of the Attorney General for $200?” asked Caulkins.
Tom DeVore said this was a bad idea to get people around the state to donate to his campaign fund for a lawsuit he filed in his personal capacity.
“It’s a disaster,” said DeVore. “The Attorney general’s office has some of the best lawyers in the state and they know exactly what’s going on there and that’s not going to go well with that fake association.”
Below is two interviews conducted by Cat Petersen
