88 Comments - Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:31 am: For the majority, the opposite is also true. Same state, different worlds. - jake - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:34 am: There is plenty of pain to go around. Just a different type of pain, that’s all. I am from downstate. We need folks who will find common ground, not those who would divide us. - just sayin' - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:37 am: Upstate resident, downstate friends. I disagree with Whitley. More of the divisive civil war some gop types try to gin up between upstate and downstate. It’s a pity party mentality that didn’t work for Bill Brady either. To suggest that Cook County residents aren’t suffering too is not only wrong, it’s insulting. Downstaters shouldn’t expect sympathy as long as they’re always hating on Cook County. Pretty ungrateful too given Cook supports the rest of the state financially. Myths to the contrary are just wrong. - Ghost - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:37 am: I disagree, but I must admit I do not understand what he means by pain Both areas have their own issues, gas and electricty, housing and cost of living are higher in chicago…. smaller communtites tend to be dependent on a single buisness or entity for thier survival so they are more susceptable to disaster. I think cook county people do not worry about what happens donwstate, just as donwstate people do not overly worry about cook county… but micro isolationism is unfrotunetly fairly common. I assume donwstate means S of I-80 I am a donwstater. From a land where the Govt owns the utility and is doing a great job keeping costs down. - levivotedforjudy - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:37 am: I live in Chicago, but I’m from the Metro-East. Whitley is right (but I don’t get what his point was). Of course there is a divide. It’s like two totally different worlds, with different concerns and needs. How many down-staters are concerned about Chicago tourism, even though every county in the state benefits? Vice-Versa, how many Chicagoans care about extending deer season? - The Unlicensed Hand Surgeon - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:38 am: What exactly has Whitley done to feel the pain of Downstaters? Order the cobb salad instead of filet mignon at the Sangamo Club? You would expect serious people to put forth serious policy ideas. What a moronic comment. - Bill Baar - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:38 am: Look at the map in the Brady Quinn race. Democrats lost just about everthing save Cook County (and much of Cook’s western Townships). Democrats downstate on the skids and no prospects for a return in sight. No one in Cook is going to feel any pain for anyone downstate if there’s no votes to back it up. - Lil Enchilada - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:42 am: Many of the people I know from Chicago look down on down staters. Like we all grow corn in our front yard and slop the pigs every morning because we live in the “sticks”. I hardly believe that they give us a second thought because we are the second class citizens of Illinois to them. - Coach - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:44 am: Of course people in Chicago/Cook County are “out of touch” with the needs/challenges of people downstate. People everywhere are inherently interested mostly in what’s happening immediately before them. That’s just human nature. The same is true for people downstate - they’re mostly out of touch with the needs/challenges of people in Chicago/Cook County. But how exactly is this is an impediment to progress? Whitley doesn’t explain that (or perhaps he did explain, but the reporter excluded that). Honestly, this seems like just a throw-away line that Whitley threw to a “downstate” audience because he knew they’d get pumped about it, and nothing more. - 3rd Generation Chicago Native - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:45 am: Sadly he is right. We have so much coverage on the local news on local events, and very little, if any of anything South of 80 with the exception of events in Springfield that have any effect on the people of Cook County. Even our local papers mainly cover local and national news, and very little if any downstate news. Unless people are coming to the Capital Fax, or downstate news, and newspaper sites, they will not get downstate news and events. - DuPage Dave - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:45 am: I am, as you suspect, from DuPage County. I will admit that nobody where I live gives a hoot about the part of the state south of I-80. Nor do they give a hoot about us. Therefore I disagree with the statement. My question is this: By “downstate” does Whitley mean anything outside Cook County? Such as Kane County, Will County, and Lake County? Most people in Macoupin County, Lawrence County or Adams County would count all of those as “Chicago”, and therefore evil. I don’t know where Whitley is from but his command of terminology seems a bit strained. - He Makes Ryan Look Like a Saint - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:47 am: Central Illinois In Chicago there are the opportunity for jobs, for many downstate towns (Jacksonville) there are not a lot of jobs to fall back on. Our kids have to travel from the rural areas into school, they cannot walk. We have no leadership (I do not count Lt. Gov) from downstate, and the leadership have had for the past 10 years keeps providing entitlements that the state cannot afford in order to foster votes from their region. It is almost like downstate is forgotten. - lincoln's beard - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:49 am: It’s totally true. We’re so accustomed to easy access to modern dentistry, indoor plumbing, Trader Joe’s, book-learning, Wisconsin, professional sports, and paved roads that we can’t even empathize with our downstate neighbors. It’s tragic, really, how out of touch we are. - Hal Halleck - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:50 am: Why would the Illinois Chamber of Commerce want to pit Cook County against the rest of the state? - OneMan - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:51 am: The reverse is likely true as well. That being said, Ag is big in large area of this state and most folks in Cook County likely know jack about Ag in any way shape or form. They likely don’t get the transportation issues rural school districts face. They think rural areas are pastoral happy places free of crime where women where calico and bake pies. - The South Springfield Shoplifter - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:55 am: Mr. Whitley is absolutely spot-on correct. The poor residents of Robbins, Illinois (Cook County) don’t realize how hard Springfield insiders struggle to get a tee time at Illini County Club on a Saturday morning. Until this injustice gets rectified, we can never move forward as a state. - Cheryl44 - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:55 am: Yeah, really (Im agreeing with Hal)–what good comes of pitting us against the rest of the state? - wordslinger - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 10:58 am: I agree, but I’d expand it: Too many people in Cook and the Collars could care less about Downstate, and too many people Downstate blame all their problems on Chicago. Of course, Downstate does draw a lot of money from Cook and the Collars, not that they’d ever admit it. The mutual hostility has been going on all my life. It’s stupid and counter-productive. More people need to rise above it, and it can start via the examples of our great statesmen in the GA. - Carl Nyberg - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:00 am: This is just a Republican-allied activist trying to segment the market. If all the people being squeezed economically align themselves against the people doing the squeezing, the Chamber of Commerce crowd is going to have a problem. So, the Chamber of Commerce crowd will try to divide voters along other lines. Nothing more principled going on. - soccermom - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:02 am: I grew up in “downstate” Rockford, went to school in Champaign, and have lived in the Chicago area for all my adult life. I love the state of Illinois, am proud to live here — and I never hear any of this “anti-downstate” rhetoric. (If anything, I hear more anti-Chicago rhetoric, mostly from my mom.) I think we all have trouble feeling each other’s pain, but that also goes for my neighbors in Oak Park who don’t understand the needs of the West Siders who live a few blocks away. All of us are pretty much getting through every day the best we can; when you write that massive check for the monthly mortgage payment on your (underwater) home, you may not think about all the folks who are in foreclosure or who have been evicted. That’s why we need leaders who will remind us pretty regularly that we’re all in this together, and that what affects me affects you, too. - Wumpus - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:03 am: Disagree, people of cook just keep inflicting the same pain upon everyone else. - Fed Up - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:07 am: I also think the downstaters don’t understand Cook County either. - Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:08 am: Disagree only because it’s not the People. It’s the pols who have intentionally been hiding under the convenient label of “out of touch” to create rifts and distractions within political parties, geographic regions, and ethnic groups (under the guise of unity, bipartisanship, and helping (pandering to) those who are new to this country) so that they can continue to line their own pockets–and those of their friends and family–and rip apart the moral fabric of our society through their perversions and other bad behavior. They believe that being “out of touch” and “shielded from the public” can be used as an excuse for their bad behavior and poor representation of constituents–because seriously, how can they, as the royal “We”, possibly be blamed for something if they can’t relate to how the other 90-something percentage of the population lives? - Curious - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:08 am: I was born and raised in Spfld. Moved way south last year at 48. I agree that it goes both ways. Having spent a lot of time in Chicago for work over the years, I have seen both ways. While Cook pays much of the tax dollars, that area also uses a lot, too. Anything over minimum wage is considered a good job down here and they are hard to come by. There are a lot of people really hurting here. Luckily I’m not one. - too obvious - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:11 am: Let’s face it, people in their busy lives are usually out of touch with the family across the street or next door. Everyone has problems. Dumb and divisive for Whitley to turn it into a upstate-downstate thing. Guy’s a one trick pony like Bill Brady was in his failed race last year. No wonder business is trying to flee this state. - bored now - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:18 am: i don’t think there’s any question that cook county is “out of touch” with what is going on “downstate.” by the same token, downstate is completely — and i mean UTTERLY — oblivious to what is going on in cook county. i’d argue that neither really have a clue what is going on in some of the suburban townships (rich and bloom to the south, orland to the southwest, barrington, et al to the north) or the collar counties. to some extent, this is to be expected. it’s also by design. i don’t think there’s any interest among the current leadership in the state legislature to allow its members to gain context about what is going on outside their own geographical regions. if legislators did gain that perspective, they’d undoubtedly be far more difficult to handle. and the leadership is nothing if not interested in controlling the members of their caucuses. so we’ve chosen that path, that ignorance. i can still remember what a downstate politico said in the early 2000s when barack obama was touring the state. “i could have told him everything he needed to know,” this person said. “he didn’t need to come down here.” illinois still seems stuck in the past century (back when richard viguerie was developing mail) to me. and we seem to like it that way. could even be our slogan: illinois, where the past still lives as the present… - Logic not emotion - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:22 am: Most of the people downstate don’t feel like we have any real representation in state government. For many years, party leaders have came from Chicago. Many supported Brady for Governor in hopes that he would have help ensure downstate’s voice was heard. Chicago area legislators vote on a lot of things such as private septic systems that have little effect on their direct constituents. Ideally, they’d seek guidance from their downstate peers on those issues; but that doesn’t seem to happen. As to downstate siphoning funds from Chicago… It seems like Rich had something once about a study that indicated Chicago broke even, Collars lost, and downstate benefited. I don’t know if that study took into consideration that a lot of the statewide meetings are held in Chicago which means downstate agencies use funds accounted for as downstate to pay for hotel rooms, food, etc. in Chicago. Downstate. - Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:22 am: And I should add that my observations are not limited to Cook County pols. They’re directed at pols all across the Nation. (Just look at the riff-raff who keep running for POTUS on the R side, especially.) The entire country would be doing itself a favor if we stopped referring to our elected officials by their esteemed “titles” and began addressing them as “Public Servant so-and-so” to remind them of what they’re jobs are and who their employers are. - wordslinger - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:27 am: The more I read Whitley’s remarks, the more they strike me silly divisive gas. The state is a “laughingstock” that needs to get its fiscal house in order, but needs to spend more on roads and schools (apparently, they don’t cost much). As far as Downstate pain, maybe Whitley can rattle some of his banker members to start making small business loans and lines of credit again, than maybe state prisons, universities and hospitals would not dominate so much of Downstate economy. - Thoughts... - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:30 am: If Whitley could make the argument that downstaters are actually in touch with the pain that Cook Co. folks feel, then I might acknowledge his statement as more than rhetoric. Rhetoric, I’ll add, that does a disservice to political discourse that’s already in the toilet. He needs to look in the mirror - his job is to help businesses, not further the hyperbolic partisan vitriol that permeates everything in America today. I’m really sick and tired of people who live in the state and have significant positions of influence tearing down the state for all the world to see. When they do that, their motivations are clear…and partisan. I voted disagree - I’m from Southern Illinois and have lived in Chicago for years. If Whitley doesn’t want to help - then he needs to get out of the public eye. - Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:30 am: =Let’s face it, people in their busy lives are usually out of touch with the family across the street or next door.= Yes, but wouldn’t it be convenient to have an entire staff of workerbees and advisors who are paid by the taxpayers to do nothing but comb through newspapers and take calls from your “neighbors” so that they can keep you “informed” of what’s going on in your neighborhood WHILE you’re out most of the time shaking hands and kissing babies who live in the area? How people who are afforded staff by the taxpayers to help “manage” their constituents’ needs AND who are actually allotted time to get up close and personal with the public can EVER consider themselves “removed” absolutely floors me. Said it before and I’ll say it again: Rock Stars–NOT worthy public servants. - Deep South - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:33 am: I live in deep Southern Illinois. The two regions are different worlds. The lifestyle in Chicago is so different than here in the deep South. In Southern Illinois you are physically and culturally in the rural South. In Chicago, well, its one of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. There is no way an elected representative from Chicago understands how we live down here. And I suppose the opposite is true. But I would venture to guess I’ve spent way more time in Chicago than all the state reps out of Cook County put together have spent south of I-64. - Way Way Down Here - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:36 am: I get weary of this issue. There is enough pain for everybody. There is plenty of mutual ignorance. What’s his point? - Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:36 am: =Said it before and I’ll say it again: Rock Stars–NOT worthy public servants.= Sorry. Forgot to add “social-climbing nits”. - wordslinger - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:40 am: By the way, isn’t it Whitley’s job to promote business growth in Illinois? How does he do that by puffing himself up by ripping the state down? What achievements can the Chamber point to? Have they created a universal application for state handouts for their members? - Loop Lady - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:40 am: No…things are crappy all over…another pearl of wisdom from the IL Chamber… - Peter Snarker - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:42 am: The whole thing sort of reminds of me of the Sox and Cubs rivalry - at least as it existed from the early 1980s through 2005 - the dynamics have changed. Cubs fans didnt really notice the Sox or pay attention, whereas Sox fans typically (big generalizations here abound) loved the Sox and hated all things Cubs. Chicago/Cook is the Cubs fan - doesnt for the most part consider or think of downstate that much day-to-day (or at all). Downstate is the Sox fan in that they do think of Chicago - to “hate on it” (its politicians, corruption, morals (or lack thereof), etc etc). Not sure if it is better to be ignored or hated. - Throwing Stones - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:47 am: Agree- Check any job section of papers in downstate Illinois compared to Cook county. I’m from Central Illinois, and I don’t see more than 3-5 jobs in our local paper. Most of which are minimum wage. - wordslinger - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:51 am: Apparently the ROE supporters won’t buy an ad, so we’re just getting the same canned bit every 15 minutes. Becoming quite annoying. - Edge of the 14th Ward - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:53 am: I’ve lived in Chicago my whole life, and while Chicagoans may be out of touch with the needs of downstate Illinois, we are even more drastically out of touch with the needs of our fellow Chicagoans. The city’s neighborhoods are ever-changing, but there is still persistent segregation and most residents simply aren’t willing to go outside their comfort zone. The positive side of this is that people are invested in their own neighborhoods, and infuse them with vitality and character. The negative side of this is that people can be deeply suspicious of other neighborhoods, or just ignore them completely. - Team Sleep - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:54 am: I disagree. Sometimes, I think the people in Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Illinois have no idea what people in Chicago face: high property taxes, sinking properly values, long commutes to work/school and outlandish grocery costs. I understand the Chicagoland region has more jobs and better infrastructure, but it’s not as though the residents in Kane or Kendall County somehow face less “pain” than someone in Henderson or Hancock County. I have found that too many people in Illinois are not well-traveled enough within our own state to understand the problems each region faces. - 47th Ward - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 11:55 am: Whitley’s comment is nothing but regionalism, a divisive strategy and one that is horrribly counterproductive. Having said that, enough people believe it to be true that I’m sure it wasn’t an original thought on his part. He’s guilty of spreading it though, and he has a political agenda that benefits from a divided state. FTR, I live in Chicago and was born here. In between, I grew up in Kankakee County, went to college in McLean County and lived for a time in Madison County. By my count, I’ve visited about 85 of our 102 counties at least once. FWIW, I love Illinois, every part of it, and always will. We’re a great state because of our differences, not in spite of them. It’s time our politicians, including people like Whitley, started thinking about what’s best for our state as a whole, not individual parts and stop pitting one against another. It’s not either/or, it’s both/and. - Cook County Commoner - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:13 pm: Implied in the comment is that Cook County residents should be in touch with the downstate situation. Never happen. Mike Royko noted once that the motto for Chicago was Ubi Est Mea (Where’s Mine). This motto properly belongs to Cook County as a whole. Cook County has almost one-half the population of Illinois, which ensures political predominance. The politics of greed and expediency practiced here requires Cook County’s survival to predominate. Ergo, the well being of down staters is irrelevant except to the extent their resources can be funneled to the northeast portion of the state. - TJ - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:14 pm: Yes, it’s very true, but it cuts both ways. Upstaters are, for the most part, ignorant of downstate troubles, and downstaters are mostly ignorant of the problems that the city and suburbs are facing. Illinois ain’t Indiana. We’re not a mostly homogenous state with our core city and capital conveniently rolled up in a nice geographic center. We’re a very diverse, multi-faceted state that really feels like multiple states within one. - Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:14 pm: Well said, 47th! - Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:20 pm: I guess as punishment, he’s now going to have to counter that by hanging out “overtime” with the Daleys, Emmanuels, and other “cultured folk” in Chicago. - Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:22 pm: ===Ergo, the well being of down staters is irrelevant except to the extent their resources can be funneled to the northeast portion of the state. === If that’s the case, then it ain’t working very well. Just sayin… - CircularFiringSquad - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:29 pm: Even though he is a Saluki Doug is totally wrong And he lives in Naperville so some place ritzy People understand the “pain” every where. It comes in different flavors, but it is all the same American employers are slow to hire Americans Bankers are slow to grant mortgages Docs and hospital think the cash cows that pour money into their pockets will never end Pick you biz it is the same every corner of the state Don’t play the class/region warfare - The KQ - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:31 pm: I live in the SW Burbs and work in the NW Burbs. I work with people now who think anything past Ogden Ave. is “southern IL”. People up this way just don’t see why it matters what happens “down there”. - Willie Stark - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:32 pm: How does this comment serve Whitley well with his own membership? Would guess that a lot of the Chamber’s members are located in Cook County. Furthermore, don’t forget he flirted with running for governor, announced, and then dropped his bid. So, I’d suggest a comment like this not be looked at simply as a one-off, but an indication that he’ll be looking to make the race again in 2014. So, the Chamber ought to ask itself if its interests are best served by having its front man campaigning on its dime. - wordslinger - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:35 pm: 47th nailed it. Well done. –I have found that too many people in Illinois are not well-traveled enough within our own state to understand the problems each region faces.– I think that’s true and it’s a shame. I’ve lived and traveled all over the state and have enjoyed all the people and places. There’s a lot more that unites us then divides us. Once you realize that, it’s easy to see through and reject the corrosive and pandering regionalism of some of our great statesmen. - too obvious - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:40 pm: The more I think about this, the more annoyed it makes me. This “us vs. them” thing between downstate and upstate has been going on from day 1 of the state probably, but it seems to have heated up in recent years. It’s lame and divisive. Appeals to lowest common denominator. If Whitley has nothing better to offer he should probably leave the field like Bill Brady had to. Illinois is better than a ginned up civil war between its own people over zip codes. It also bad because it takes attention away from the real enemy: Cheeseheads. - JP - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:42 pm: It strikes me as unknown to Whitley (or most of the commenters here) that Corn is selling for $7.25/Bushel, and downstate farmland is selling for $9,000 per acre, while Cook/Lake/DuPage etc are in a long running real estate price trough. The Ag Economy is booming and efficient (thus not so many new jobs). Northeastern Illinois could benefit from the economic health downstate. - Bill - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:45 pm: ==They think rural areas are pastoral happy places free of crime where women where calico and bake pies.== You mean that’s not true??? - Katiedid - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:49 pm: I disagree, for most of the reasons already expressed. I currently live in DuPage County, but I was raised and spent most of my life up to the last 10 years or so in central Illinois. It’s mutual. No one “downstate” has any clue about up here, so it goes both ways. And “downstate” isn’t some homogenous group, either, and neither is Chicago and the collar counties. Not everyone in this area is rich and not everyone living “downstate” is destitute. - emerson in peoria - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 12:56 pm: It’s too simple to talk in terms of Chicagoland and downstate. Plenty of regional differences–from Forgotonia, to midstate to northwest counties to the Quad Cities to Metro East. I now refer to myself as a mid-stater since a guy from Effingham laughed at me when he heard me call myself a downstater. Very little appreciation for common problems and regional issues across the state. - Travelling salesman - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:04 pm: I grew up in Chicago but have lived downstate for decades and I get to see many parts of the state as well on a regular basis. The travel has broadened my appreciation for the state greatly, though I must confess I hold the local residents of Springfield in somewhat less regard due to a high propensity towards parochialism, to put it gently. Anyway, I wanted to point out something I often heard George Ryan say at various places he appeared, that I agree with: He said words to the effect that there is little reason for the regional distrust between Chicago and downstate, or Western Illinois for that matter. He rightly pointed out that the state taxes paid by all those people in Chicago was spent statewide, not just in the city, and that it helped make the difference up when local populations were too small to afford things like road improvements. That the state is still based on agriculture and all those commodity traders up North were trading on food grown downstate and to the West. That the state collectively rises and falls based on the success of EVERY part, and is diminished as a whole, when any one part is not performing well. One of the most lofty and right-on things that old guy ever said. - JBilla - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:13 pm: I still don’t understand why we have two state governments, one in Chicago and one in Springfield. It seems redundant. - Downstate Commissioner - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:19 pm: Agree that Upstate and Downstate don’t identify with each other. Don’t particularly agree with the word “pain”. Better words would include problems, outlook, interests, finances. Same state, different (insert word of choice)… - wordslinger - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:23 pm: –One such uniqueness is as long as those on welfare keep voting themselves continued benefits…all carrot and no stick… through electing sympathetic legislators we will have a huge disproportionate amount of available funds favoring Cook County.– That’s a gag right? - Feed up - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:26 pm: Quinn giving state funds to Tate &Lyle (staley’s) to move jobs from Decatur to Hoffman Estates. Well AE Staley gave George Halas a football team. - Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:26 pm: ===That’s a gag right? === Whatever it was, it was also deleted. - Shemp - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:38 pm: With the population being concentrated in the Chicago area, the legislators are also naturally concentrated from there. That in turn creates legislation that often benefits the Chicago area while often inadvertently hampering downstate. The way legislators and the State agencies both focus on Chicago, it’s very evident how time and money gets split, even beyond the proportions. DCEO has all but forgotten the rest of us short of some token gestures of support. IHDA and CDAP funds get concentrated toward Chicago. When the feds sent out HUD funds through the NSP program, Chicago was able to double dip by first getting a set aside, then also getting to apply for the leftovers against all the downstate communities. It’s quite sickening the more I think about it, really. - Justice - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:45 pm: What area of contention is the greatest? Roads and bridges are pretty equal proportionately as are schools. Where is the biggest issue? Having lived in both areas I didn’t see what was divisive other than having to drive too far for a Corn Dog in the south or a great pizza in the north. - wordslinger - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:49 pm: Stereotyping Cook County as some welfare state is absurd. Do you think all those privately financed skyscrapers house welfare offices? From my travels there are poor areas that match any seen in Cook in Rockford, Rock Island, Peoria, Springfield, Decatur, the Metro East, Aurora, Joliet, Waukegan, etc. Plus, you’d have to be blind not to see the poverty that exists in some parts of rural Illinois. And believe it or not, most poor people work, they don’t live forever on “welfare.” You’re right, though, it can get rough in Cook. Just this morning at a Starbucks in Glenview, a lady in Blahniks told a heart-rending story about losing her American Express card and begged for six dollars for a double cafe latte mocha or something. - JP - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:53 pm: I have no quantitative numbers here, but there is a general perception that State Funds are being sent to failed schools in the City via the equalizer process. There is also a quantifiable issue with State funding of teachers pensions. Salaries and pensions are generally higher in Northeast Illinois, resulting in higher pensions. The pensions are incurred locally but funded Statewide (or in Illinois’ case, the obligation is Statewide as the pensions are not funded). - Its Just Me - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:55 pm: I have seen first hand how Chicagoland Members can’t understand downstate issues (like farming and the importance of township government services in unincorporated areas of the State). However, downstate Members are equally clueless on issues important to Chicagoland (like transit). I currently live in Chicago, but grew up downstate. - Justice - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:58 pm: I don’t think anyone is stereotyping Cook County as a welfare state. I believe the point was where the funds, huge funds,are being spent and to what overall benefit. Could they be managed better? Is this one of the perception differences? - Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 1:58 pm: JP, you’re wrong on both points. Downstate just doesn’t have the money to be exporting it anywhere. Also, the Chicago teachers pension fund is almost solely funded locally. Chicago taxpayers are funding suburban and downstate pensions, not the other way around. - mokenavince - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 2:08 pm: I disagree Cook County just has more Democrats, and Brady was just to for right. They elected Preckwinkle and Rahm who are making cuts left and right. Obama’s problem is over regulation, he got Dodd-Frank which has been a disaster and owes to much to big labor. The NRLB may cost him the next election.If Romney wins and stays in the middle and dosen’t sell-out to the Tea party, the Republicans have a chance . - zatoichi - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 2:22 pm: Grew up in Chicago, lived around the country, and now back in central Illinois. This same statement can be said for virtually any state. How does Albany relate to NYC? Dallas and Amarillo? Go out west and the same issue exists for Mountain vs Plains. Both groups need each other. Corn, cattle, grocery stores, transportation, banking, education all relate together much tighter than you would expect. Chicago in isolation would not be what it is and neither would Adams County. Different goals? Sure. Different lifestyle? Sure. Mutual issues? Everyday. Myopic politics comes from focusing on immediate home town/personal needs as you would expect regardless of where you live. - Bitterman - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 2:33 pm: Kind of a disconnect…the poll shows most agree with Whitley but the comments seem go the other way. Anyway, IMO he is stating out loud what many downstaters feel, corecctly or not. When downstate governors were being elected, there was not the level of devisivness. Nearly eight years of Blago and now Quinn has left a nasty taste. And when “downstaters” see that Cook can deliver a few hundred thousand more votes for “their guy” than downstaters can, it makes it worse. Just adds to the notion that Chicago stole the election. But in the end, Doug’s comments aren’t likely to help the situation. - Throwing Stones - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 2:34 pm: —From another article on the Cap Fax today- But Mautino said downstate was particularly hard hit in both Quinn’s line-item vetoes and his proposed cuts on Thursday. All but one of the seven facilities targeted for closure are downstate.— I feel this is a great example of why the answer is yes. - Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 2:42 pm: BTW, noticed the “drive-by” yesterday. Pretty twisted. - Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 2:42 pm: Woops! Wrong thread. - hisgirlfriday - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 2:46 pm: I said yes, but I think it’s important to note that Downstate Illinois is not some monolithic block where all areas within Downstate possess the exact same economic interests or situations. So just because Cook County is out of touch with Downstate doesn’t mean all the parts of Downstate are in touch with each other when they all have different economic engines (from factories to universities to finance/insurance to agriculture). For example, the people of McLean County (Bloomington-Normal) are very much out of touch with the pain of the people of nearby Macon County (Decatur). Same for Champaign County vs. Vermilion County (Danville). Or Peoria County vs. Knox County (Galesburg). Maybe Illinois could develop a cohesive economic strategy that benefits everyone if our state leadership came from areas besides Cook County. But with such divergent interests often pitted against each other, maybe not. - Quinn T. Sential - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 2:47 pm: {“Cook County people are out of touch with the pain of the people of downstate Illinois.”} If the “Cook County people” being referred to by Whitley are the elected officials, I could not agree more. More specifically however Cook County elected officials are out of touch with the pain of the people of Cook County. Had it not been for the Sales Tax Repeal advisory ballot initiative by north suburban Cook County townships, and the succession initiative discussion in Palatine, this issue may have continued to have been kept beneath the radar screen and ignored. The sink hole that is Cook County Hospital; a one time living monument to a man now since deceased, has once again been exposed for what it is, which is an anchor around the neck of all other Cook County agencies and the citizens that will suffer so long as the inefficient albatross is allowed to contnue to operate. If they are oblivious to what is going on in their own backyard, how could you expect them to have any understanding or empathy for others from places whose names most of them can not even pronounce, and some of them can not even read. - reformer - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 3:00 pm: Chicago/Cook bashing is a longstanding practice downstae where none shed a tear for suburbanites facing an 87% hike in tolls. - TomD - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 3:02 pm: Agree with the quote, and agree with the vice versa. Its also not unique to Illinois . . . . Same issue in NY, VA, PA, CA, FL, GA, and any other state that has 2 cultures (most often a metro area and wide-open space). - Skeeter - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 3:34 pm: It definitely goes both ways, but yeah, I have no idea what is going on downstate. I barely have any idea of what goes on south of Congress (except for the roads leading to Midway). I have some passing references to courthouses in various areas, but that’s it. On a similar note, I hear downstaters tell me that my own neighborhood (Streeterville) is a hellhole where they would not come unless they had a gun so I’m pretty sure they don’t know much about my area either. I don’t think Illinois has much of a real cohesive identity. It is a bunch of areas sharing common boundaries but that’s about it. - Throwing Stones - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 3:46 pm: —Chicago/Cook bashing is a longstanding practice downstae where none shed a tear for suburbanites facing an 87% hike in tolls.— Is downstate receiving funds from the toll hike. Correct me if im wrong, but i seem to recall where Cook County receives 70% of the states $ for 30% of the states roads from IDOT state funded road projects. My memory wants to say this was a question of the day in the past. - Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 3:49 pm: ===i seem to recall where Cook County receives 70% of the states $ for 30% of the states roads=== Completely false. District 1 gets half the money for the vast majority of the traffic. - Responsa - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 5:20 pm: The symbiotic relationship between downstate and Chicago used to be important and well understood and appreciated by all the actors. Early every morning my great grandparents took a wooden crate of fresh eggs to their Central Illinois IC railroad depot and sent it to 12th Street. The Chicago egg dealer collected the eggs, put the payment into the now empty crate and sent it back south on the next IC train to be picked up at the downstate depot. Both sides of the transaction needed each other to financially survive and had a trust going. (Multiply the effect of other such transactions thousands of times each day.) Obviously, times have changed and the mutual benefit and reliance no longer exist. The mutual respect has diminished along with it. It is fair of Whitley to say that many downstate communities feel time has passed them by and that their issues are not well understood or represented in the Land of Lincoln. - sal-says - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 5:22 pm: Oh my. I’ll just bet the poverty rate in Cook co. is FAR less than downstate. - gallerywalker - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 5:26 pm: I have friends that don’t realize that Illinois goes south of I-80. That being said…I live in Central IL, but spent the majority of my life in Southern IL (or as we like to call it, God’s country). I have grown to realize that if it weren’t for all parts, it wouldn’t be Illinois. I love Illinois from Cairo to Rockford and Quincy to Danville. Let’s pull together people and quit finger pointing. Let’s return Illinois to what made it great…the PEOPLE!! - UnableToThinkOfACatchyHandle - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 6:26 pm: I live in the Chicagoland area. I voted No and then I realized that I have no idea what the unique problems of downstate Illinois are. That being said, I don’t know how part of the State’s problem is that we don’t know what is going on downstate. I mean, our budget issues have little or nothing to do with any ignorance of downstate issues. - South of the Loop - Monday, Sep 12, 11 @ 7:21 pm: I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. After Daley College I went to WIU. It was a culture shock, to say the least. Now I have no reason to go downstate. Each time I hear of a tornado or flooding in a downstate town, I have to yahoo map it to see where it is. I am going to agree here with Whitley. The coverage up here about anything downstate is practically nil. - Wilson Pickett - Tuesday, Sep 13, 11 @ 7:58 am: No, I don’t agree. The greater likliehood is that Cook County people are probably well-aware of the pain factor in downstate Illinois but “they could care less”. If you took a poll of people in Cook County and could elicit honest answers from them, 98% % of them would answer in unison that “It ain’t our problem, man. Sorry!.”Their local Cook County situation will always (and, perhaps should?) get their top priority. In a perfect moral and ethical world, we would all play the caring and concerned role of Bill Clinton and cry out that “I feel your pain”. But, the reality is that people (no matter where they live) don’t want to feel anyone else’s pain. Human nature dictates that the first rule and the real Golden Rule is that “Charity starts at home”. That isn’t about to change. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.