Veteran state Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) thinks it’s time Gov. J.B. Pritzker take a long, hard look in the mirror. | File photo
Veteran state Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) thinks it’s time Gov. J.B. Pritzker take a long, hard look in the mirror. | File photo
Veteran state Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) thinks it’s time Gov. J.B. Pritzker take a long, hard look in the mirror.
“The governor doesn’t have anyone but himself to blame for a lot of what we’re now seeing happening in the state,” Wilcox told the Lake County Gazette. “His lack of business first policies and the way he’s handled the COVID crisis have only exacerbated the number of people looking to leave. He talks about it all being (former Governor Bruce) Rauner’s fault, but the truth is during his first two years in office we’ve already lost just about as many people as we did in Rauner’s whole four years.”
All the fallout leaves Illinois as one of just four states to have lost population over the last decade with almost 170,000 people having headed for the exits. Of the state’s 102 counties, 93 have also experienced decline over that time, topped by Cook County which has lost almost 49,000 residents. Finally, at least 10 counties have suffered losses of more than 5,000 people..
Wilcox sees it all as a total rebuke of the state’s direction and a rejection of the way Pritzker has sought to operate.
“These aren’t people that are leaving for sunnier climates or anything like that,” he added. “You can tell because all our neighbors are seeing their populations increase. I think it’s a case of more people realizing what’s happening here in Illinois and coming to understand just how much we’re crippling ourselves.”
Deeper analysis shows that downstate counties have particularly been hard hit, with the region losing 144,000 residents or 3.2% of its 2010 population over the same time period. In addition, data shows the losses in Cook County represent the second worst losses of residents in any country across the country, with only Wayne County in Michigan losing more people.
“The control the unions have here and the pension crisis we have are just killing us,” Wilcox added. “The truth is until we address these issues and work to give our businesses their best chance of making it here nothing’s going to change.”
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