As the wind and rain picked up last night, Vermilion County Board members and more than a dozen audience members filed into their seats in the board room at the Joseph G. Cannon Building for the board’s monthly meeting.
Several issues were on the agenda, chief among them being a resolution — put forward by board member Jerry Hawker — to add an advisory referendum to the ballot in November, asking residents to vote on whether or not Vermilion County should secede from Cook County and the City of Chicago, effectively creating a new state.
Before the county board began their discussion of the resolution, several audience members came up to the podium to voice their opinions.
Lorette Newland, who volunteers for an organization called Illinois Separation, spoke about the grievances several downstate counties have with being part of Illinois.
“Many of us no longer consent to being governed by the Cook County-dominated legislature, which seems unaware of how differently the rest of the state lives and our values,” Newland said. “Our goal is to realign the new state with the U.S Constitution and return more power to the county level.”
Another member of the audience, John Taylor Wilson, spoke against the resolution, bringing up several ways he feels Vermilion County residents would suffer were they to attempt to secede from Cook County, including the loss of prestigious universities, museums, and other cultural experiences that make Chicago a central tourist attraction in Illinois.
Mickensy Ellis-White, Chair of the Vermilion County Democratic Party, also spoke about her opposition to the resolution. “Yes, prisons and universities and things like that are also funded through our state dollars, but so is Medicaid. And in Vermilion County, 26.4% of our residents are on Medicaid, so how can we pay for those services if we are no longer receiving tax dollars from the state?”
When it came time for board questions and discussion, Hawker spoke first, emphasizing the popularity of such referendums across the state.
“In May, the organization New Illinois had an information lead at the Civic Center … They had over 100 Vermilion County residents attend that meeting and it would appear that the vast majority was in favor,” Hawker said.
Board member Jim McMahon raised a question, regarding the validity of such a referendum.
“Why didn’t the citizens, if there’s that big a crowd, get together and put this on a referendum?” McMahon asked. “That would be a lot more powerful coming from citizens than from the County Board.”
McMahon further elaborated on his concerns about the future implications of passing such a resolution.
“If we’re going to start putting advisory referendums on the ballot, where do we stop? Are we going to start talking about guns and everything else? Then we’re going to be here all week and month long, talking about referendums that don’t count,” he said.
Timothy McFadden spoke next, bringing the board’s attention to the logistics involved in creating and running a state.
“Starting a new state … How does that happen? What happens to people on public aid? What about state employees that are no longer state employees in the United States?” McFadden asked. “Who takes care of the roads? Who plows the roads? Our school funding, where does that money come from? What’s the formula?
“Do we recreate all of it, the offices? Do we recreate the Governor’s, the Secretary of State’s office?” he continued. “What’s the cost of that in tax dollars to recreate government for a new Illinois?”
In McFadden’s opinion, the resolution was an unnecessary and harmful distraction.
“We need to focus on November right now. We need to make sure that we do our best to … make sure that we all have states that are worth living in.”
Hawker, however, returned to what he felt was the core issue at hand: voter choice and county sovereignty.
“I just think it’s time for us to give the people a chance to vote,” Hawker said. “That’s all we’re doing, giving them the right to say yes or no. And to also send a message to the State Legislature that’s controlled by Cook County that we, downstate, are tiring of their control.”
The question of whether or not to secede from Illinois is not a new one.
“Twenty-eight counties have done this and the average vote was approximately 72% in favor,” claimed Hawker, though the Commercial-News was unable to independently verify this claim.
Despite similar resolutions passed by several counties in Illinois, including neighboring Edgar county, State Attorney General Kwame Raoul issued an official statement in October of 2023, declaring that the Illinois Constitution “does not grant counties the authority to secede from the State of Illinois.”
Raoul went on to point out the possible federal ramifications should such a secession be attempted.
“Even if Illinois law authorized a county to secede from the State of Illinois, proponents of county secession would face additional hurdles at the federal level,” said Raoul, who went on to explain that the admissions clause of the United States Constitution “prevents a subdivision of an existing state from breaking away without the state’s consent.”
“Any referendum on the issue of county secession would have no binding legal effect,” Raoul concluded.
Of the 21 members present at the Vermilion County Board meeting last night, 15 members voted against the resolution and six voted for it.
Larry Baughn (County Chairman), Robert Boyd, Phearn Butler, Craig Golden (Vice Chairman), Kevin Green, Lon Henderson, Marla Mackiewicz, Timothy McFadden, Jim McMahon, Gary Miller, Nancy O’Kane, Gergory Shepard, Becky Stark, Mark Steinbaugh and Daniel Wright voted against the resolution, while Kevin Bodine, Joe Eakle, Jerry Hawker, Christine LaMar, Steve Miller, and Mitch Weaver voted to pass the resolution.
Vermilion County Board meetings are held at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month in the County Board Room at the Joseph G. Cannon Building, located at 201 N Vermilion St. in Danville.
The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 13.