Will County Gazette

Mickey Straub thinks the disease of Springfield has festered long enough.

“There’s no regard for children or even grandchildren,” he told the Will County Gazette. “How can politicians be thinking about anyone’s welfare based on the things they’re allowing to happen. It drives me crazy to see a state once so dynamic being dragged down like this.”

A new Truth in Accounting survey finds Illinois now ranks 49th in the country in how its debt burdens taxpayers. 

Mickey Straub

Overall, the cash-strapped state has total liabilities of $235.9 billion, with just $25.5 billion in assets. To pay it off, the average taxpayer would have to contribute $50,400.

The state’s faltering reputation comes after well over a decade of uninterrupted Democratic rule, including 11 straight years of Democrats occupying the governor’s mansion before the 2014 election of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Even with Rauner in power, Democrats, with the aid of a handful of Republican lawmakers, banded together this year to override a veto by Rauner to permanently increase the personal income tax by 32 percent.

“I can’t stand the pain of it anymore,” Straub, who recently launched his campaign against House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Spring) in the 82nd District, said. “The state is on the wrong path and the Republican Party has lost its way.”

The 82nd District covers parts of Cook, DuPage and Will counties, including Darien, Homer Glen, Lemont and Willowbrook.

The Burr Ridge mayor said the only hope lies in electing true conservatives committed to common sense principles and erasing the agenda of longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago).

“That’s a major source of my motivation,” he said. “I don’t care about titles. ... But you can only sit on the sidelines so long when it comes to getting this state back in order.”

In handing the state an overall "F" grade, Truth in Accounting researchers also highlighted that the state owes nearly $117 billion in pension liabilities, or roughly half of its $210 billion in overall debt. In 2016 alone, pension liabilities grew by another $8 billion.

“Everybody’s getting out and leaving Illinois,” Straub said. “College grads are looking to start their careers where there’s opportunity, career builders are leaving because property taxes are still going up and retirees are leaving because it’s too expensive to stay here.”