Illinois Valley Times

In a March 1 Facebook post, Illinois state Sen. Andrew Chesney shared his visit to the City of South Beloit.

"Had a great meeting with officials from the City of South Beloit and Julie Uram from Nature At The Confluence," the senator said in the post. "We had a productive discussion about their priority issues for 2023. Great people, doing great things! #SOUTHBELOIT."

Chesney has spent several days getting in touch with his constituents. On March 5, he shared that he attended a Friends of the NRA fundraiser.

“Great to be with my friends at the Friends of the NRA fundraiser in Stephenson County,” he said on Facebook. “The NRA foundation has done a fantastic job advocating for responsible gun ownership and educating our next generation of gun owners.”

In late February, Chesney attended the Lincoln Day Dinner in Carroll County.

“Proud to attend a packed house at the Carroll County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner,” he said in another Facebook post. “Great people, solid NW Illinois values! #myhomecounty #native #NWIllinoisvalues”

Chesney's name was also recently in the news because he filed three new bills all aimed toward tackling the issue of corruption. One of those bills is meant to stop legislators from using funds of the political committees to pay for investigators, expert witnesses, attorneys and so on.

"Billions of dollars have come into their campaign account and when they get accused of wrongdoing they are using those tainted funds to defend themselves in court and we think that that's wrong," Chesney told News Channel 20. 

Another bill would strip legislators convicted of felonies of their retirement license plates.

"You shouldn't use your campaign accounts to defend yourself, you shouldn't have retired plates if your convicted of corruption, and if you do wrong stuff, you should pay a heavy fine," Chesney said.

Chesney is the newly elected senator for Illinois' 45th District, his website said. He had served as the representative for the 89th District since December 2018. He also served as an elected member of the Freeport City Council.