Downstate Illinois (the 96 counties outside the six metropolitan Chicago counties) is hurting, yet few seem to notice. A bipartisan downstate caucus of lawmakers could establish a dashboard of goals and priorities for their sprawling region and advocate to achieve them.
More Top Picks Best Pop Filters For Podcast Microphones
Downstate stretches 400 miles from north to south and has more than 4 million residents, to Chicago’s 2.7 million and about 5.7 million in the suburbs, according to 2020 census data. Yet major media focus on the city. Metro-Chicago folks tend to take weekend breaks in Wisconsin and Michigan; downstate to most is a vague afterthought, at best.
Downstate is much poorer than Chicago and its metropolitan region, so the latter are forced to pay handsomely to beef up services for their country cousin region. You might say the metro Chicago area has a soft spot in its heart for downstate, which I believe it honestly does.
According to a 2018 Southern Illinois University study that cites 2013 figures, downstate received $1.69 in state spending for every $1 the region sent to the state in taxes. In contrast, Cook County received 90 cents back for every dollar sent to the state in taxes, while the suburban collar counties received but 53 cents back in state services for every dollar their taxpayers contributed to the state in taxes.
Population, good jobs and corporate headquarters have been fleeing downstate. Most downstate counties lost residents in the past decade. The Caterpillar and Archer Daniels Midland C-suites departed Deerfield and Decatur, respectively, in recent years. Ominously, at least to some, Moline-based John Deere has plastered Chicago’s Union Station with ads that tout the tractor-maker’s connection to the city, as it recruits top talent to its new tech center in the Loop.
Education achievement in most schools downstate lags that in most suburban schools.
Much of what Illinois state government does is located disproportionately downstate, such as highways, public and private colleges and universities, state parks and our natural resources. Because of understaffing, many of our state parks have become decrepit. I am told that state employee numbers at the iconic New Salem State Historic Site, where Abraham Lincoln became a man, have declined in recent decades, from 23 to five. Ditto for other parks.
Many downstaters no longer travel to Chicago, for fear of its crime. So, it is ironic that cities such as Peoria, Rockford and Champaign have higher rates of gun violence and homicides than Chicago. This is according to a recent study from the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Yet, downstate has some remarkable strengths. Jim Schultz, a successful entrepreneur-investor from Effingham in south-central Illinois, points out that in each of the six Rs critical to economic development — roads, rails, runways, rivers, routers and research — Illinois is arguably among the top three states in the nation. Obviously, as anyone can see on a map, much of these valued “Rs” are spread across downstate.
And need I mention that last year, downstate Illinois was the No. 1 producer of corn and soybeans among our 50 states?
Downstate was a political powerhouse for most of our state’s history, yet has become the weak sister to Chicago-Cook and the collar-county region. The GOP dominates rural and small-town downstate, yet is home to only one-third of all state lawmakers.
In the 1980s, a bipartisan downstate caucus existed under the leadership of the late state Rep. Richard Mautino of Spring Valley until then-House Speaker Mike Madigan squelched it as a threat to his consolidation of power.
At regular meetings of a downstate caucus, there could be cross-fertilization of ideas and concerns between its midsize-city Democratic and small-town GOP lawmakers. Downstate public universities could provide research for the caucus on the region’s problems and solutions. The Democratic members of the caucus could educate and advocate within their metro-Chicago Democratic legislative delegation.
If downstate does better, all Illinois benefits.
Jim Nowlan is a former Illinois Republican state legislator, running mate with Gov. Richard Ogilvie in 1972 and campaign manager for moderate Republican U.S. Senate and presidential candidates. He lives in Princeton, Illinois.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].
More Top Picks Best Blue Light Glasses Under 100