Illinois Needs Positive Action, Not Negative Ads

The head of the Small Business Advocacy Council of Illinois has had it with the barrage of negative ads TV viewers are enduring this election season.

Small business owners and all Illinoisans want vision, not vicious attacks.

From Richardson:

This election cycle, the small business community is looking for candidates and politicians to set forth a coherent, substantive plan to improve the economic environment in Illinois. Instead, the state's electorate has been bombarded with negative advertising that is juvenile, irritating and pathetic.

ABC's Charles Thomas reports that Governor Quinn and Bruce Rauner have spent between $15-20 million on predominately negative TV ads since last March. The non-partisan Center for Public Integrity reports that Illinois has seen a roughly 30 percent increase in the money spent to air TV ads compared to the elections four years ago. Illinois politicians, and their opponents, have spent more than $26.4 million to air an estimated 34,589 television ads between January 1, 2013 and September 8th of this year. As reported by the Northwestern Herald, this staggering number does not include the costs of producing the ads, the money spent on local cable TV or for radio and Internet ads.

See how Richardson says these negative ads can affect the good of the sate at Reboot Illinois.

No matter who wins next month, the new governor is going to be faced with dealing with Illinois' large amount of debts. According to Bill Bergman, director of research at Truth in Accounting, Illinois' debt increased to 13 times its original amount in the 32 years between 1981 and 2013. Find out how this happened at Reboot Illinois.