From the campaign for State Senate of Arie Friedman…
“The news for job-seekers and employers in Illinois just doesn’t seem to get any better,” said Dr. Arie Friedman, Republican candidate for State Senate in the 29th District, southeast Lake County and Wheeling, Palatine, Northfield and New Trier Townships in northern Cook County.
“The jobs climate in our state is closely tied to the fiscal condition of the state government itself,” said Friedman, “as Illinois continues to rate red alerts about the state budget deficit and the state’s growing debt.”
Friedman cited Monday’s report by the Civic Federation documenting Illinois’s deepening debt, even in the wake of increased state revenue from the personal and corporate income tax hikes passed by Springfield Democrats in January.
“Illinois has lost 105,000 jobs since the state raised the income tax in January,” said Friedman, “yet the Civic Federation report shows the added revenues cannot keep up with the accumulating obligations of the state government. And the already alarming Civic Federation report does not even take into account what will happen to the state budget if the President’s national healthcare plan is allowed to take effect here. No way is Illinois ready for the impact of ObamaCare,” he said.
“Monday’s report makes even more urgent the deep, systemic changes needed in the
state’s public employee pension systems and Medicaid, which is already the single largest expenditure in the state budget,” Friedman said. “And to put Illinoisans back to work, the General Assembly must also repeal the income tax hikes and reform worker’s compensation and the civil litigation system.
“I’m afraid, though, that none of those urgent changes will happen before the election of a new legislature some 14 months from now.
“Illinois is going in the wrong direction on taxes, spending and fiscal management,” said Friedman. “We have to stop the hemorrhaging of population and jobs from our state, and the only way to do that is to try a new prescription – common-sense adults stepping forward from the private sector to straighten out the mess.
“That is why I am running,” said Friedman. “The people of Illinois urgently need to make a change, and my candidacy offers voters an opportunity to change Springfield.”
Dr. Arie Friedman and his wife Michelle are parents of five children and live in Highland Park. A graduate of the University of Chicago, he finished at the top of his medical school class at the University of Illinois Medical Center in 1998. He opened a pediatric medicine practice in Lake County in 2001. Prior to attending medical school, Dr. Friedman served in the United States Navy as a helicopter pilot. During his seven years of active duty, Dr. Friedman flew SH-60B Seahawk helicopters out of Naval Air Station North Island, California, from which he deployed twice, including once to the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Desert Storm.