Kane County Reporter

Ben Bierly takes no solace in seeing his Springfield prediction come true.

“I always said it would come to this,” Bierly, a Republican and former Illinois state Senate candidate, told the Kane County Reporter. “When your cost of living is out of control, state taxes too high, and you have the highest tax burden in the country, it gets to the point where people don’t want to be there any longer. That’s what we’re seeing in Illinois right now.”

The latest U.S. Census Bureau data showed that Illinois 170,000 people left the state over the last decade, making it one of four states to have a decline.

Over that same time, 93 of the state’s 102 counties have also experienced shrinkage, including Cook County, where nearly 49,000 residents have fled.

Finally, at least 10 counties have seen dips of at least 5,000 residents.

Bierly, who registered approximately 36% of the vote in his state senate bid against Democrat John Connor for the District 43 seat, fears Democrats haven’t learned their lesson.

“Overall, the business environment remains lousy, and when you’re tough on businesses and make it hard for them to operate while raising the cost of living, that’s a lethal combination,” he said. “It’s why so many people are voting with their feet. We have to learn to live within our means and find a way to reduce our taxes to somewhere around the national average.”

Deeper analysis showed that downstate counties are leading the region, losing 144,000 residents of its 2010 population over the same time, Census Bureau statistics show. Also, data showed the losses in Cook County represented the second most in any county across the country, trailing Michigan’s Wayne County.

“Clearly, what we’re doing isn’t working,” Bierly said. “We’re failing to produce the kind of jobs people need as corruption in Springfield grows more rampant by the day. We need to get all that under control to have a chance to do like the states that are doing well.”