(Washington, DC) — Three downstate Illinois Republican congressmen are slow to answer about how they voted on an aborted attempt to gut the independence of a congressional ethics panel. Spokespeople for John Shimkus, Mike Bost and Rodney Davis either wouldn’t say or didn’t respond to questions from the “Belleville News Democrat” about their votes on an unannounced bill to scuttle the civilian board that looks into alleged ethical violations. House leaders dropped the effort after a Tweet from president-elect Donald Trump chastising the Republicans for making that their top priority.