One-party rule does not work here, Springfield or DC

To the Editor:

Recently, the Madison County Democrats held a press conference in Edwardsville regarding their new campaign touting Madison County as "good for business."

I'm wondering if they're talking about a Madison County in another state. This Madison County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. I'm not sure their new campaign message will resonate with the thousands of unemployed residents of this county or the hundreds of folks who have had their homes recently foreclosed.

Our county will soon go back onto the "Judicial Hellhole" list, thanks to our courts recently allowing a record number of out of state asbestos lawsuits to flood onto the dockets. Doctors have fled the county in droves for the past decade. To hold a press conference and pretend that our local doctors are claiming that Madison County is "good for business," is laughable and void of fact.

These Democratic elected officials have presided over this environment for decades. I would invite them to take a stroll down Broadway in Alton and look at the abandoned industrial sites or the dozens of vacant buildings in downtown Wood River, and talk to the folks at Olin and include that in their new campaign.

One of the business owners quoted from the press conference admitted to having a business relationship with two county-wide elected Democrats. I guess when you're doing patronage business with the county, it's easy to proclaim that "business is good."

We have some wonderful small business owners in this county who have managed to survive despite the conditions of the business climate here. However, for these elected officials to proudly proclaim, with straight faces, that they've created a business-friendly environment to anyone other than trial lawyers is a slap in the face to all business owners in this county.

Furthermore, Chairman Dunstan's claim that the county is "virtually debt-free" seems to ignore the fact that the county currently has more than $38 million in unfunded pension liabilities.

This once again proves that one party rule doesn't work in Washington, it doesn't work in Springfield, and it certainly doesn't work here in Madison County.

Matt Rice
Candidate for Madison County Recorder