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* Illinois Review…

Three downstate lawmakers want the US Congress to take up an initiative to make Chicago the 51st state. After all, the state and city have been fighting for 200 years.

In a resolution introduced May 25, GOP State Reps. Reginald Phillips - Brad Halbrook and Joe Sosnowski voiced their dismay with the city’s politics, its weight to the state’s finances and its disagreement with the rest of the state on major social issues.

The dissension between the state’s most populated city and the rest of the state has been an issue for 200 years, the resolution says, with previous attempts to sever the state and city’s ties.

The resolution is here.

* Rep. Sosnowski may want to secede from his suit…

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:30 am

Comments

Make it all of Cook County and you’ve got yourself a deal.

Comment by The Captain Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:33 am
He found that even though Sponge Bob polled well with younger voters, the suit was not a hit.

Comment by OneMan Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:34 am
This photo was taken moments before Rep. Sosnowski spontaneously combusted.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:34 am
Bruce Rauner thinks this suit is “pineapple”

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:34 am
Some have different definitions on what seersucker is?

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:35 am
The bow tie would’ve been too much, amirite?

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:36 am
But the shoes pull it all together.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:36 am
“I bought this from the Mayor Jane Byrne estate sale, why do you ask? Everyone knows darling that everyone in Chicago dresses like this.”

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:36 am
The last time I saw a suit like that it was being worn by Herbert Ruggles Tarlek Jr.

Comment by Gruntled University Employee Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:37 am
The “Psych” reboot on USA Network has a few fans…

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:37 am
As a Chicago resident, I would be happy to rid myself of the tax eating downstaters. Good luck to downstate Illinois without all of our tax revenue. Illinois will truly become Mississippi with snow.

Comment by Wow Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:38 am
Caption?

Three men trying desperately to keep a straight face.

Comment by Dance Band on the Titanic Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:40 am
“I deliberately chose this outfit to mock Chicagoans of my lack of hospiality towards them.”

“You should see the cape that comes with this, you’d be in for a treat, I’d tell you, but Edna Mode yelled, “No Capes”.”

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:41 am
Auditioning for “Weekend at Bernie’s II.”

Comment by Leatherneck Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:41 am
Joe “Spongebob Squarepants” Sosnowski

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:42 am
“My audition for the role of Buster Poindexter went swimmingly!”

Comment by Exclamation Point Deleted Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:42 am
“OOOOOOOOOO, who lives in a pineapple under the sea?”

“JOE SOS-NOW-SKI”

Comment by Perrid Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:44 am
To think, Aaron Schock got grief for his big aqua belt.

Thank goodness Kenny Gray isn’t around to see such as outlandish getup in the hallowed halls of Congress.

I’m guessing Rep. Sosnowski packs more outfit changes for a weekend trip than a Cher/Diana Ross world tour.

Most-likely candidate for a Mike Bost diva act on the House floor.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:44 am
Sounds good to me.

Comment by Saluki Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:44 am
My favorite superhero is Dole Man and his side kick assistant, Chiquita.”

“Their superpower is to turn evil into a delicious fruit cocktail - or split state government - I’m uncertain which…”

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:45 am
In Soviet Russia, Dole is on YOU!

Comment by Ron Burgundy Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:45 am
Also, not a caption but an argument, Chicago/Cook county pays more taxes than it gets from the state, according to multiple looks at the data. It’s good to get educated on a subject before speaking and making yourself look foolish.

Comment by Perrid Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:46 am
The Jim Trafficant toupee is a nice touch.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:47 am
His ideas are as funny as his attire.

No - we don’t want to see what you wore under it.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:49 am
You should see the before picture. Yeesh.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:49 am
This is from the Shawn Spencer spring line….

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:50 am
He should wear that to Chicago Pride.

Comment by ArchPundit Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:51 am
What a bunch of worthless panderers. Instead of doing any productive work, what we pay them a generous salary to do, they spread the myth that downstate subsidizes Chicago, when the opposite is true. Without the economic engine of Chicago, the only place in the state that’s creating any real jobs, Southern Illinois would have to go back to dirt roads, unless they really hiked their taxes.

Comment by Chris P. Bacon Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:51 am
I never thought I’d say this, but now I miss Rickey Hendon.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:52 am
Never mind the suit. Damn fools. If it weren’t for Chicagoland taxes, there wouldn’t be paved roads south of I-80.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:53 am
With some Kohl’s Cash and the right coupon, this suit is a steal.

BTW - This ensemble also comes in a Pac Man pattern.

Comment by City Zen Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:53 am
Compared to Governor Rauner and his hokey biker vest costume, Sosnowski looks downright dignified in this.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:56 am
Mustachioed man in back: “And here I thought my rug looked bad.”

Comment by Arthur Andersen Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:58 am
“Take that, Dan Burke”

Comment by Arthur Andersen Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 10:59 am
70% of the revenue comes from Cook and the collars. Good luck with that downstate.

On the bright side, UIUC could charge a whole lot of students out of state tuition.

Comment by Dee Lay Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:07 am
No backsies

Comment by ChicagoVinny Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:07 am
Fruity.

Comment by Anonymouse Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:08 am
He had tickets later that evening to a B52’s concert.

Comment by Gruntled University Employee Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:13 am
Poor guy thought he was in line for an American Idol audition.

Comment by A guy Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:17 am
BTW, who cropped out Monty Hall?

Comment by A guy Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:17 am
Well now we know what happened to all the beach towels and where they went.

Comment by Cindy Lou Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:21 am
And to add to GUE’s comment, his favorite B-52’s song is “Under The Strobe Light.”

Comment by A Jack Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:28 am
What galls me is that Chicago area arguers apparently don’t want the split even though they say everything outside of the realm sucks away their tax $$. One would think with the embarrassing backwardness of the rubes south of 80, and the giant sucking sound emanating from same locale, that Chicago denizens would be glad to be rid of “Mississippi with snow”. Please, get on board the movement and make southern Illinoisans eat their words. In ten years, you can sit there with thumbs in ears, fingers wiggling and go “nah-nah, nah-nah-nah”. We told you so.

Comment by The Bashful Raconteur Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:35 am
This is just embarrassing.

The downstate brain drain is real.

Comment by TaylorvilleTornado Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:37 am
===What galls me is that Chicago area arguers apparently don’t want the split even though they say everything outside of the realm sucks away their tax $$.===

Without downstate, we’d have no where to send our garbage.

Just kidding. Chicagoans don’t obsess much about downstate. Don’t really think of it much now that you mention it. Calling for secession doesn’t resonate up here as much as it apparently does else where in Illinois.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:48 am
Good thing he’s on the terrace, that outfit might startle the horses!

Comment by Northsider (the original) Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:49 am
Serious legislators support serious legislation….. and then there’s Sosnowski

Comment by We'll See Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:49 am
But he’s so Broadway Chicago with that suit…..

Comment by Amalia Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:51 am
Had one too many of this, made with pineapple https://www.thespruceeats.com/surfer-on-acic-cocktail-760567

Comment by Amalia Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:55 am
Stumpfed

Comment by walker Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 11:55 am
Good to see that John Bradley’s tailors are working again.

Comment by Southside Markie Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 12:04 pm
The epitome of fancy pants.

As a transplanted suburbanite living in central Illinois I have noticed that downstaters that talk about breaking away from Chicago labor under significant misinformation. They see the entire metro (cook and collar counties) as one monolithic “Chicago”. They do not think of Chicago as simply the city limits. This makes the premise of creating a new state even more ridiculous.

They see the social welfare system that supports many of the poor in Chicago as what defines Chicago and, in their eyes, that is the entire region. This maybe due to their own prejudices or simply a lack of spending any time in Chicagoland.

Either way, a new state of Southern Illinois would be like Mississippi with snow and without Mississippi’s wealth.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 12:08 pm
Now if the resolution were to offer to all Illinoisians an annual trip to Hawaii, we might have a solution to the out migration problem.

Comment by A Jack Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 12:12 pm
Nice to see Brian Setzer finding success in his second career.

BTW - 86% of Illinois’ GDP comes from Chicago. It’s mighty hard to run a state on 85 billion dollars.

Comment by Jocko Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 12:20 pm
If you like Pina Coladas….

Comment by A guy Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 12:21 pm
Southside Markie, that was perfect.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 12:38 pm
“The suit that roared…”

All that’s missing is the white belt and the Pat Boone white shoes…

Comment by Mr. Smith Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 12:41 pm
We have entered the age when buffoonery is power.

Comment by Springfieldish Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 12:50 pm
Chicago/51st State and separation from downstate is always a red meat conversation starter in downstate circles. The reality is that most if not all economic studies show the majority of state revenue is generated north of I-80 and That area is not the corresponding major source of expenditures for social services as many like to imagine. Chicago is not a financial drain on the state.

Comment by Motambe Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 12:54 pm
–We have entered the age when buffoonery is power.–

In this case, I think he’ll just have to settle for buffoonery.

The resolution is the giveaway; the suit just confirms it.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 12:55 pm
A+ on the suit . . . . .Sosnowski takes the ball in the silliness of Kentucky Derby attire and spikes it in the end zone. Bravo!

Comment by Truthseeker Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 1:03 pm
New Internet Meme

If you see a guy wearing a suit cover in pineapples and saying strange things based upon no facts, you live north of I-80.

If you see a guy wearing a two tone brown and tan suit and saying things you agree with, you’ve had a brain stroke needing immediate medical attention.

…and you’re color-blind.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 1:12 pm
Please welcome David S. Pineapples…

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 1:14 pm
He was the sole entry in the Capitiol’s “Bob Marley Day” dress-up contest?

Comment by revvedup Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 1:15 pm
Don’t know the reason,
Stayed here all season,
With nothing to show but this fruit suit.
But it’s a real beauty,
A Pineapple cutie, how it got here
I haven’t a clue.

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 1:26 pm
Sounds really good it’s an election year right?
Terrible policy idea

Comment by DuPage Bard Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 3:05 pm
This topic makes me sad, because I grew up downstate but know that it would actually be beneficial to my current Cook Co. tax bill. The idea that Chicago area folks are opposed to this is just silly. I’m not even sure it would result in two red state senators for McConnell

I see wordslinger beat me to the Ken Gray reference — but it actually looks more like what Jim Traficant would wear when he’d host keggers in his Rayburn office.

Comment by Contract Disputin' Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 3:26 pm
As a Chicagoan who has been to every county of Illinois except one, I’ve got two words for you… BYE FELICIA!

I’m tired of the giant sucking sound that downstate Illinois makes every time I pay my taxes.

And if you’re searching for A new state name, may I suggest North Mississippi?

Comment by 312 Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 3:49 pm
Oooh, teacher, call on me.

Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Monday, Jun 4, 18 @ 4:44 pm
At least the shirt and the cause match.

Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Tuesday, Jun 5, 18 @ 6:52 pm