Time to Add another Illinois County

With the State of Illinois greatly embarrassed by the antics of the current Governor, as well as his impeachment trial ready to begin later this month, it is high time for the six townships of Northwest Cook County to finally secede from Cook and form a new county. The impetus for this is the continued corruption that oozes out of Cook. The six Northwest Townships (Barrington, Palatine, Wheeling, Hanover, Schaumburg and Elk Grove) should separate themselves from the conflagration of graft and theft of public confidence from a corrupt and practically bankrupt Cook County.

Should some or all of the Northern Townships wish to join them, all the better.

There are a number of reasons why it is important to give this full consideration during these tough economic times not the least of which are:

1. High taxes will continue to chase business and commerce from the Northwest Suburbs.
2. Since Cook County is dominated by the "pay to play" Chicago politicians, short shrift has always been given to the Northwest Suburbs and various public infrastructure projects.
3. Municipalities in the Northwest Suburbs may be forced to pay higher interest rates on bonds due to the Cook County corruption machine.
4. Now is the time for Northwest Suburban businesses to wake up and sever the ties to Cook County and its use of their tax dollars to fund Chicago based largess.

There will be a number of considerations to develop a new county; not the least of which would be its naming. I would suggest either Lincoln or Reagan both of which would be proud names for a county that would have the highest valuation outside of that of Chicago. Another matter that would need to be discussed would be the transfer of current Cook County assets within the six township area to the newly formed county. In order to foster growth and job creation I would recommend reducing the number of property classifications and the corresponding assessed valuation. They could be as few as five: Commercial [(office, retail, restaurants, etc.)--30%], Industrial [22%], Residential [20%], Agriculture [12%], and Vacant undeveloped land [35%]--to encourage development.

Its time for Northwest Suburbanites to wake-up and smell the Starbucks before more and more of their hard earned incomes are picked from their wallets by Chicago politicians seeking to line their own. Start the process Now to form a new county in Illinois.