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Category: Government Structure & Principles
Government Structure and Principles
Center for Public Integrity just released a year-long report grading the integrity of the 50 states. Read about Illinois here http://www.stateintegrity.org/illinois Grade given is a C, rank is 11th among 50 states.
Read about the research here http://www.iwatchnews.org/
Governor Quinn offered few concrete problems on how to solve our state's problems.
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This month I am straying from the typical commercial real estate discussion and am jumping on the hot topic of politics. However, I'm not going to talk county politics, nor am I going to bring up the GOP nomination. I'm talking about Chicago versus the rest of Illinois. It has been brought up in the past, once in 1925 and again recently in late 2011 (Google it); can Illinois and Chicago part ways as two seperate states? I'm not here to argue in either direction, only to make a few observations and lay out a few facts. I'll let the readers of HI decide whether this is a bone-headed idea or a revolutionary thought.
While researching the idea, I found many instances where seperating Cook County from the rest of Illinois has been discussed. In most cases the idea has been shrugged off and forgotten...but why? Rather than follow in the same thought process, I decided to think of this idea objectively. Could Illinois be divided into two states, how would it be done, and what would be the benefits? Below is my proposal.
The biggest flaw that I have found in any past idea to seperate Chicago from Illinois is the fact that rarely does one county or one city stand on its own. Chicago or Cook County as a seperate state deos not make any sense. I look at it from the standpoint of a trade area or MSA (metropolitan statistical area). The U.S. Census has made it easy by defining the "Chicagoloand MSA" as 11 counties around Chicago including the city, the adjacent suburbs, and the "collar counties". For those of you doing your research, you will notice that the Census includes a few counties in Wisconsin and in Indiana as part of the MSA. In this scenario, I am only considering counties within Illinois. In addition to the Chicago MSA, I added Winnebago County (the Rockford MSA) to the mix, as Rockford is not too far off from being a northwestern suburb. That creates a new "state" consisting of 12 counties that I will call "The Commonwealth of Chicago".
I have a great image that I would love to share showing the new state, but unfortunately I cannot get the Image Manager to work today. Regardless, below are the stats on the two new states:
Commonwealth of Chicago
MSAs: Chicago & Rockford
Counties (12): Lake, Cook, Will, Kankakee, McHenry, Kane, Kendall, Grundy, Boone, Winnebago, DeKalb, La Salle.
Population: 8,246,489 (2010 Census)
State of Illinois
MSAs: Moline/Rock Island, Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign-Urbana, Danville, Decatur, Springfield, East St Louis.
Counties: the remaining 90 counties
Population: 4,584,143 (2010 Census)
What I find most intriguing about the resulting states are where they would fit in with the rest of the country in regards to population. Based on 2010 Census data, the Commonwealth of Chicago would be the #11 most populous state in the union, and the "new" State of Illinois would be the 25th most populous. Add the fact that Illinois would still have three Fortune 100 companies calling it home, and it becomes even more intriguing...#37 State Farm Insurance Co. (Bloomington), #39 Archer Daniels Midland (Decatur), #58 Caterpiller (Peoria). Could Illinois operate on its own financialy, without the support of the twelve northeastern counties?
The benefits to the split are pretty obvious:
- Illinois could seperate itself politically, socially, and financially from the ruling class in Chicago.
- The capital city of Springfield would lie much closer to the median population center.
- Chicago could get its own capital (likely in downtown Chicago) which would much more closely represent the will of the people.
- Illinois rids itself of prison-bound governors and entrenched politicians like Mike Madigan.
- Illinois could finally address the current financial issues facing our state, and Chicago could continue to spend itself into bankruptcy.
Being that this is a Champaign County blog, my list of benefits are mostly what I see as benefits to us downstaters. However, I'm sure there are many additional benefits to the people of the Commonweath that I am missing. For example, no longer would suburbanites have to claim us pitchfork carrying, gun-toting, rednecks as part of their state brotheren. Their politicians could commute 50 minutes from their suburban homes to the downtown capital, instead of jet-setting to Springfield to attend sessions. And, the boring agriculture topics would no longer be a burden to Commonwealth lawmakers.
I can already hear what many readers are thinking (its not that simple; it can't be done; it would never work; no states have split since the Civil War). Yeah, I know it isn't simple...but you give me a plan to save our state that is more simplistic, and I'll give you a pat on the back and all the credit in the world. Illinois is facing a business climate that is forcing businesses out of the state at an alarming rate, trends are showing a mass exodus out of Illinois (it's not like the weather is going to keep people here), and the true unemployment rate is likely around 15% with few signs of improvement. Are two states better than one? From my perspective, it can't be much worse.
Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the right-to-work bill without ceremony, making Indiana the 23rd state in the nation with such a law. Indiana also is the first state in the "Rust Belt" of the Midwest and Northeast to adopt the measure.
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With some help from the good folks the Illinois Policy Institute, here are some great ideas for 2012...
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Teacher's Union Lobbyists substitute taught for one day and now have access to a the teacher's defined benefit program.
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Rankings are an important measure to determine progress and growth for any entity. Where does Illinois want to be financially and economically? How do we get there?
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If any section, sentence, clause or part of this act, is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the the remaining portions of this act.
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Since its passage in January, Senate Bill 2505 has created the largest increase in job loss in the 50 states.
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Yesterday, there was a terrific panel at the Brookings Institute that talked about conflicts in several states over constitutionally-mandated redistricting. Congressional districts are redrawn every ten years to reflect population shifts. Topics included the impact of redistricting on growing minorities like the Latino community, and various lawsuits of alleged gerrymandering. They also responded to questions from the audience. 1 hour, 40 minutes There are several take aways as to what we could have done better here in Champaign County, such as engaging the citizenry in the process, not just hold hearings at Brookens, and what can be applied to a similar process after the 2020 census. If you are interested, the discussion can be viewed here http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/CongressionalRedistricting6
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