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Springfield, Illinois | By Éovart Caçeir at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10535377
Springfield, Illinois | By Éovart Caçeir at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10535377
Pained as he might be by it, Dwight Kay knows why Illinois is seen in the bad light it is among the business community at large.
“For years, I ran a business and I can tell you one thing business people don’t like is not knowing,” Kay told the Metro East Sun. “Never having a balanced budget makes them uncomfortable, having balances that are always in the negative makes them uncomfortable. Those are things that Illinois has regrettably come to be known for.”
Chief Executive’s 2018 “Best and Worst States for Business” report recently ranked Illinois No. 48 among 50 states, ahead of California and New York. The ranking marked the fourth straight year the state has fared so poorly.
Dwight Kay
At the other end of the spectrum, Texas ranked at the top, followed by Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. Closer to home, Indiana ranked No. 5 and Michigan, up nine spots over last year, ranked No. 27.
“If we had handled business like we were supposed to a long time ago, we wouldn’t be in the position,” said Kay, the Glen Carbon Republican running against Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) in the 112th District. “We could have done like many of our neighboring states and put out more balanced, honest budgets and businesses wouldn’t now be so nervous about the direction of the state. Right now, businesses fear being here to be hit with another tax in that year when it wasn’t at all planned for.”
As it is, Kay said lawmakers have to deal with all the fallout from their years of faulty leadership before most businesses will be willing to invest in the state all over again.
“We’ve amassed huge deficits that we have to deal with before anyone will be willing to come back,” he said. “That we’ve ranked this poorly for four straight years now speaks to the levels of incompetence and corruption in state government. Illinois is the most corrupt state in the country, add that to the incompetence and you have an impactful combination.”
The 112th House District includes parts or all of Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Collinsville and O'Fallon.
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