If only Illinois taxpayers were just a bunch of stupid frogs, as in that old wives’ tale.

If taxpayers were frogs, they’d sit calmly in that warm stockpot forged over the decades by Democratic boss Mike Madigan, with the temperature rising all around them.

They’d sit. And they’d never jump out.

More and more Illinoisans have had enough.

Back in October, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale released a poll that revealed just how unhappy people are about living in this state.

The poll, conducted by SIU’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, revealed that 47 percent of state residents would like to move out of Illinois. The poll indicated that 51 percent prefer to remain and just 2 percent are undecided.

Newly elected Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza complained this week that her predecessor left the office in a shambles.

Oh, please. Just do the job.

In a surprise reversal that ends a marathon legal battle, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has agreed to release a virtual “treasure trove” of his private emails and ban city employees from using their private emails to conduct city business.

Emanuel’s year-end change of heart follows a parade of Freedom of Information requests denied by the city and lawsuits filed by the Better Government Association and the Chicago Tribune.

While U.S. unemployment is at its lowest point in years, a new report shines a light on a racial gap that’s especially prominent in Illinois.

For the 15th month in a row, Illinois has the nation’s highest unemployment rate among African-Americans, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute.

Allies of Gov. Bruce Rauner have launched a new attack on potential election foe J.B. Pritzker, and while the move on the Chicago Democrat is of debatable value, it sure suggests Rauner is concerned about Pritzker’s electoral potential.

The latest broadside concerns contributions to Illinois House Democrats made just before the November election. The money came from two Pritzker-affiliated groups but was not in his name.

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office says a marked decline in the state’s population is not his fault but that of— surprise!?!—Democrats.

In a statement issued a day after the U.S. Census Bureau estimated Illinois lost 37,000 people in the year ended June 30, more than any other state, gubernatorial spokeswoman Catherine Kelly pointed a finger at “the majority party (that) stalls and refuses to compromise.”

Illinois schools are getting ready for another budget hit after the new year.

Local districts say they are getting word that their last two state payments for requirements such as special education and school buses likely aren’t coming.

Social service providers suing Illinois over lack of payment during the budget impasse have appealed their case to force immediate payment.

A Cook County judge dismissed the lawsuit in August, saying it belonged in a higher court. The group requested intervention from the Illinois Supreme Court, but the state’s highest court denied it last month.

Lawyers for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich have once again appealed his 14-year prison sentence on corruption charges, this time arguing that the judge who resentenced him in August failed to consider the glowing letters from fellow prisoners and all the good works of the ex-governor while behind bars.

The last-ditch request for another resentencing hearing is considered a legal long-shot at best because the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals already said in a previous ruling that U.S. District Judge James Zagel’s original sentence was reasonable given the variety of corruption schemes on which Blagojevich was convicted.

More than 100 of Rod Blagojevich’s fellow inmates wrote letters to U.S. District Judge James Zagel before the former governor’s re-sentencing earlier this year.

They told the judge that Blagojevich, 60, “loves his family,” “loves to help other people,” and is “a leader and a good man.” One even wrote, “I don’t believe there is a man alive that I respect and appreciate more than Rod.”

Calling it “another sordid episode in a long, tangled and distinctly Chicago saga,” the Illinois Appellate Court has kept alive a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by the Denver attorney hired by former Mayor Richard M. Daley to oversee city hiring, only to be stripped of that power.

In a sharply-worded ruling issued this week, the Appellate Court concluded that the ordinance creating the now-defunct Office of Compliance was an “intent by the City Council to create a contract” with Anthony Boswell that set the $161,856-a-year executive director apart from every other city employee.

Corruption in government comes at a high price.

With taxes at all levels in Illinois on their way higher and higher, it’s important to note the extra taxes Illinoisans pay that aren’t leveled in many other states.

Not the extra taxes people pay for needless levels of government — like townships or programs that don’t work as intended. Those taxes are visible. People, if they pay attention, know they’re paying them because they get a bill.