Indiana lawmaker says proposal to absorb 33 Illinois counties reflects real discontent
In recent years, 33 Illinois counties have said they've had it with the state, and have voted to secede — or leave Illinois altogether.
Now, an Indiana bill is looking to capitalize on all of that discontent. An Indiana lawmaker has rolled out the welcome mat for people in Illinois who want to join the Hoosier State.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, however, calls the whole thing nothing more than a stunt.
Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston said he introduced the legislation after seven downstate Illinois counties — Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Iroquois, Jersey, Madison, and Perry — voted in November on a ballot referendum to secede from the state.
"And we saw that, we thought, well, instead of seceding and starting 51st state, we just want to raise our hand and say, 'Hey, we'd love to have you in Indiana,'" Huston said.
In recent years, A total of 33 of Illinois' 102 counties have voted on similar ballot measures to leave Illinois.
"Almost a third of the counties have said they're not interested in being part of Illinois," Huston said.
Madison County is located across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. County resident Virgil Straeter voted in favor of the ballot referendum for secession.
Straeter is also part of an organization working to form an entirely new state.
"The onus of doing business in the state of Illinois is such that it's driving people out of the state," he said.
But Paul Helmke, a professor at Indiana University and former Mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, said the proposal is not realistic.
"It's not going to happen," he said. "The U.S. Constitution says that for something like this to happen, you need the Indiana legislature to agree, you need the Illinois legislature to agree, and you need the U.S. Congress to agree. I don't see it as anything else other than sort of a way to, you know, puff up their chest and have some pride."
Gov. Pritzker was likewise dismissive.
"It's a stunt. It's not going to happen," Pritzker said last month in response to Huston's proposal. "But I'll just say that Indiana is a low-wage state that doesn't protect workers, a state that does not provide health care for people when they're in need, and so I don't think it's very attractive for anybody in Illinois, where wages are higher, where the standard of living is higher, and where we do provide healthcare for people who are in need."
But Huston said the discontent shown by so many Illinois counties cannot be so easily written off.
"Well, look, it's not a stunt when a third of the Illinois counties have risen their hand and said, 'We want to do something different,'" he said.
Also complicating Huston's proposal is the fact that many of the 33 Illinois counties that have approved ballot initiatives supporting bids to leave the state are nowhere near the Indiana border. A handful border Missouri.
This week, the bill received initial approval in an Indiana State House committee.
