Whitley: Time is now to rebuild Illinois economy

With the economy on the mend, Illinois Chamber of Commerce President Douglas Whitley says now is the time for state legislators to dedicate themselves to reclaiming all of Illinois’ business advantages.

Chief among these are its location and role as a transportation hub, which give state businesses access to markets throughout the Midwest and — through O’Hare International Airport — the world.

Though the last decade was disastrous for the state due to both the economy and its political leadership, a new potential for success is arising, Whitley told members of the Schaumburg Business Association Tuesday morning.

“I’m just tired of being negative about Illinois,” Whitley said at Chandler’s Banquets in Schaumburg. “You know what, we’ve got to put those things behind us. We’ve got to win the public relations battle for our great state.”

Whitley encourages business leaders to become more politically active and vocal, to help elected officials better understand what job creators need to see. Illinois legislators have been historically slow to recognize the speed of change in both markets and technology, and it’s been to the state’s disadvantage, he added.

One of the nearest objectives of the Illinois Chamber is reform of workers’ compensation laws that have put the state behind other parts of the nation, he said.

In the last six years, workers’ comp costs for Illinois businesses have gone up 17 percent while the national average has gone down 19 percent, he said. The state now has the third highest costs in the country and a notoriously low threshold for claim eligibility — which in many cases has nothing to do with an injury caused by the worker’s job, Whitley said.

But a reform proposal may be considered in Springfield within the next three weeks ... or not. Organized labor has already set itself against it.

While Whitley praised Gov. Pat Quinn’s attentiveness to business concerns in contrast to that of Rod Blagojevich, he argued that the way to retain businesses is not through $100 million incentives as in the case of Motorola Mobility Inc., but by the creation of a vibrant economy with a level playing field.

Whitley could not speak to the specific issues involved in both AT&T and Sears’ recent announcements about the possibility of their leaving their Hoffman Estates campuses. But he suggested AT&T’s decision is being triggered by the dramatic changes within its own industry which have already reduced the workforce at its Midwest headquarters.