To many folks following the offer by Indiana’s state leadership to absorb 33 Illinois counties, the pursuit seems like a political maneuver by Hoosier-elected officials.
And it is. Voters in nearly one-third of Illinois counties have approved non-binding referendums in recent years to secede from their state. Those largely rural counties have a long-running dissatisfaction with the more progressive Chicago region’s dominance of Illinois’ government, in which Democrats hold super-majorities. They disagree on taxes, regulations, gun policies, abortion and the minimum wage, among other things. So, sensing a political opportunity, the Indiana General Assembly — controlled by Republican super-majorities — passed a law last spring creating an Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission, and that panel met for the first time on Wednesday in Terre Haute. Its mission is to discuss and recommend whether it is advisable to adjust the boundary between the state of Indiana and the state of Illinois, enabling residents in those 33 disenchanted counties to become Hoosiers.
For numerous reasons, that upheaval isn’t advisable.
In a January interview with the Tribune-Star for an earlier column, Paul Helmke — director of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and a former three-term Republican mayor of Fort Wayne — pointed out why “it’s not going to happen.” He also explained why “if it moved forward, it would be complicated.”
• It’s rare. West Virginia was formed from breakaway Virginia counties in 1863 over slavery and the ongoing Civil War. Such a shift hasn’t happened since.
• It’s beyond a longshot to clear the legal approval process. For Indiana to add those 33 Illinois counties — which include nearby Clark, Edgar and Crawford — the U.S. Constitution requires the passage by the Republican-dominated Indiana General Assembly, the Democratic-dominated Illinois General Assembly and Congress. That’s an impossible trifecta.
• Indiana and Illinois have different structures for property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes and others. And, if any departing Illinois counties had debts on state loans, who would repay? An economic analysis by Southern Illinois University’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute found that Cook County taxpayers got a 53-cent return in services for every tax dollar they paid, while southern Illinois taxpayers got a $2.81 return. (Secession advocates dispute that study.)
• State legislative and congressional districts would be disrupted.
• Illinois has legalized marijuana and its dispensaries have become popular. It remains illegal in Indiana.
• And then there’s the Wabash River. The two states have shared its access for two centuries. An Indiana- Plus-33 state would gain full control of it. Despite all of that, Indiana has pushed on with its Boundary Adjustment Commission. As the author of the bill forming that panel — Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) — said when the legislation was introduced in January, “To all of our neighbors in the west, we hear your frustrations and invite you to join us in low-cost, low-tax Indiana.
“Instead of seceding and creating a 51st state, they should just join us,” Huston added.
If that’s really the plan, and this isn’t a political stunt, as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called it, then the Indiana backers of the idea need to fix another issue.
The location of Indiana-Plus-33’s state capital.
Indianapolis has served as Hoosiers’ state capital since 1825. It moved there from the Ohio River town of Corydon because it would be more centrally located. That’s still true, for now.
But Massac County — the southern-most Illinois county among the 33 that have endorsed secession — is 290 miles from Indianapolis.
By contrast, Terre Haute is 76 miles closer to Massac County than Indy. Almost every resident in that county — located on what is presently the Illinois-Kentucky border — would have to drive an extra hour to do business in Indianapolis.
The one exception to the drive-time dilemma would be Superman, who, as legend has it, is capable of flying faster than a speeding bullet. Metropolis is Massac County’s seat, as well as Superman’s hometown. Sort of. Comic books, TV and movies about Superman don’t designate in which state Metropolis is located, the but Illinois General Assembly declared its Metropolis “hometown of Superman.” Even the name of the local newspaper, the Metropolis Planet, mirrors the Daily Planet in comic books.
And given the fact that Illinois hasn’t yet indulged Indiana lawmakers by appointing the Land of Lincoln’s allotted five members to the new Boundary Adjustment Commission (Indiana gets six members, of course), perhaps the most obvious possibility has been overlooked.
Illinois could appoint Superman to the commission. Then the Man of Steel could recommend Indiana- Plus 33’s state capital be moved to a more central location, Terre Haute, fairly equidistant to Metropolis and Hoosier border towns Richmond, Michigan City and Angola.
Or Indiana could scrap this commission and create one aimed at getting the two states to collaborate to fix problems shared by folks in both states.
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