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Former State Senator Says ‘Goodbye, Illinois’A scathing article on Illinois politics
Godfather Politics ^ | December 22, 2011 | Former State Sen. Roger Keats

Posted on 12/22/2011 5:19:29 PM PST by Iam1ru1-2

Former State Senator and Republican Cook County Board President candidate Roger Keats and his wife Tina left Illinois to live in Texas. They bid farewell to their Illinois friends in a Wilmette Beacon article, and with this letter, saying they’re “voting with their feet and their wallets.”

GOOD BYE AND GOOD LUCK

As we leave Illinois for good, I wanted to say goodbye to my friends and wish all of you well. I am a lifelong son of the heartland and proud of it. After 60 years, I leave Illinois with a heavy heart. BUT enough is enough! The leaders of Illinois refuse to see we can’t continue going in the direction we are and expect people who have options to stay here. I remember when Illinois had 25 congressmen. In 2012 we will have 18. Compared to the rest of the country we have lost 1/4th of our population. Don’t blame the weather, because I love 4 seasons.

Illinois just sold still more bonds and our credit rating is so bad we pay higher interest rates than junk bonds! Junk Bonds!

Illinois is ranked:

50th for fiscal policy
47th in job creation
1st in unfunded pension liabilities
2nd largest budget deficit
1st in failing schools
1st in bonded indebtedness
Highest sales tax in the nation
Most judges indicted (Operations Greylord and Gambat) 5 of our last 9 elected governors have been indicted.
That is more than the other 49 states added together!

Then add 32 Chicago Aldermen and (according to the Chicago Tribune) over 1000 state and municipal employees indicted. The corruption tax is a real cost of doing business. We are the butt of jokes for stand up comics.

We live in the most corrupt big city, in the most corrupt big county in the most corrupt state in America. I am sick and tired of subsidizing crooks. A day rarely passes without an article about the corruption and incompetence. Chicago even got caught rigging the tests to hire police and fire!

Our Crook County CORPORATE property tax system is intentionally corrupt. The Democrat State Chairman who is also the Speaker of the Illinois House (Spkr. Mike Madigan) and the most senior alderman in Chicago each make well over a million dollars a year putting the fix in for their clients’ tax assessments.

We are moving to Texas where there is no income tax, while Illinois’ just went up 67%. Texas sales tax is ½ of ours, which is the highest in the nation. Southern states are supportive of job producers, tax payers and folks who offer opportunities to their residents. Illinois shakes them down for every penny that can be extorted from them.

In The Hill Country of Texas (near Austin and San Antonio ) we bought a gracious[1] home on almost 2 acres with a swimming pool. It is new, will cost us around 40% of what our home in Wilmette just sold for and the property taxes are 1/3rd of what they are here. Cook County’s property tax system is a disaster: Wilmette homes near ours sell for 50% more and their property taxes are ½ of ours. Our assessed home value was 50% higher than the sales price. The system is unfair and incompetent.

Our home value is down 40%, our property taxes are up 20% and our local schools have still another referendum on the ballot to increase taxes over 20% in one year.

I could go on, but enough is enough. I feel as if we are standing on the deck of the Titanic and I can see the icebergs right in front of us. I will miss our friends a great deal. I have called Illinois home for essentially my entire life. But it is time to go where there is honest, competent and cost effective government. We have chosen to vote with our feet and our wallets.

My best to all of you and Good luck!


TOPICS: Politics
KEYWORDS: cookcounty; corruption; crookcounty; crooked; illinois; liberals; mafiatown; politics
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To: PapaNew
What part of Texas has minimal wind and minimal humidity?

Far West Texas -- specifically, the El Paso area fits the description.

Desert-like climate. Not windy like West Texas.

21 posted on 12/22/2011 6:00:25 PM PST by okie01 (THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Ignorance On Parade)
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To: Iam1ru1-2
Gazing deeply into my crystal ball, I foresee . . .

Former State Sen. Roger Keats' remarks will fall on deaf ears.

22 posted on 12/22/2011 6:00:46 PM PST by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: Iam1ru1-2

I remember when I was very young probably around 1955, my Father read an article by a well known at the time, journalist. He then told me about it.

It was on how corrupt the state of Illinois was. He said if the states representatives wanted some money they would just introduce some bill which was aimed at some wealthy business. The business would then pay them off to withdraw the legislation.

This was over 50 years ago and it seems to have gotten even more rotten.


23 posted on 12/22/2011 6:00:51 PM PST by yarddog
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To: yarddog

Isn’t it amazing, with all the corruption in IL, that Obama managed to graduate from their system untouched? It is hard to believe.


24 posted on 12/22/2011 6:06:51 PM PST by Oldexpat
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To: Iam1ru1-2

Illinois is a disaster. The property taxes a nightmare.

States run by Democrats are all a joke.


25 posted on 12/22/2011 6:07:49 PM PST by snowstorm12
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To: Iam1ru1-2

states with ballot referenda should have citizens put two items on the ballot to ammend their constitutions (if not already done so)

1. Abolish or forbid a state income tax.

2. state balanced budget amendment.


26 posted on 12/22/2011 6:10:41 PM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: longtermmemmory

It was a RINO Governor with Presidential ambitions named Dick Ogilvie who implemented IL’s state income tax (he promptly lost reelection in a heavily GOP year — 1972).


27 posted on 12/22/2011 6:14:16 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (If Newt Gingrich is a Reliable Conservative, Joe Biden is a member of MENSA)
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To: PapaNew

I’m not sure that part exists!


28 posted on 12/22/2011 6:14:16 PM PST by susannah59
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To: PapaNew
Maybe there’s a corner in northwest Texas that’s no so hot and humid.

No. And we have great big honking spiders.

/johnny

29 posted on 12/22/2011 6:16:58 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (gone Galt)
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To: Iam1ru1-2

Sadly, I’m actually leaving Texas for California. Sigh.

Why? Believe it or not, a job that is just too good to pass up.

A condition of me taking the job was that I only had to spend a year in Cali in the home office, then I can move. I’m thinking back to Texas or maybe Miami...


30 posted on 12/22/2011 6:17:10 PM PST by piytar (The Obama Depression. Say it early, say it often. Why? Because it's TRUE.)
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To: Oldexpat

There has to be a reason everything in Obamas past is sealed. Every single conservative or opponent of Obama has had every detail of their life made public, often by judges who for some reason never allow the same for Obama.


31 posted on 12/22/2011 6:18:13 PM PST by yarddog
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To: Graybeard58

Southern Missouri will be glad to have you :) I am in central MO but as a whole its a nice state outside of downtown KC and north StL. I have been here 15 years and enjoy it.


32 posted on 12/22/2011 6:18:34 PM PST by gopno1
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To: Iam1ru1-2

Excellent!
Is it any surprise to anyone that Chicago breeded the corrupt likes of Ubama and his closest advisors?


33 posted on 12/22/2011 6:26:19 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: King_Corey

Bump


34 posted on 12/22/2011 6:28:16 PM PST by Freedom56v2 ("If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait till it is free"--PJ O'rourke)
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To: King_Corey

Bump


35 posted on 12/22/2011 6:28:56 PM PST by Freedom56v2 ("If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait till it is free"--PJ O'rourke)
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To: YHAOS

LOL


36 posted on 12/22/2011 6:41:24 PM PST by Goreknowshowtocheat
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To: Iam1ru1-2

Davy Crockett: When he was defeated for another term in Congress said: “You can all go to hell, I am going to Texas.”


37 posted on 12/22/2011 6:47:00 PM PST by Barry Cassidy
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To: Iam1ru1-2

Good article.

I went to university in Texas and lived there for a dozen years. A great state, but you need to pick your location. The Hill Country is wonderful, but be selective about the big cities. You may find yourself represented by Lloyd Doggett (Austin) or Sheila Jackson-Lee (Houston.)

The rule is “Stay away from the proximity of Democrats.”


38 posted on 12/22/2011 6:54:50 PM PST by Malesherbes (- Sauve qui peut)
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To: susannah59

Daniel Boone wanted to go to Florida. He even bought property in Pensacola but his wife refused to live there.


39 posted on 12/22/2011 6:56:24 PM PST by yarddog
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I would imagine that someone like this might be welcome in Texas as long as he was willing to assimilate. Look at what happens when people who want to escape high taxes and environments unconducive to families and business move, but bring their leftist ideal with them, eventually turning their new home into the same sort of leftist hell-hole they were trying to escape in the first place.

We see this sort of thing in the Pacific NorthWest, and especially in Washington, DC, where a single family and their minions from Chicago managed to bring a new, incredible, unprecedented level of corruption to an already very corrupt city...

Mark

40 posted on 12/22/2011 7:07:53 PM PST by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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