Read the Will County Declaration of Independence here...

Will County Declaration of Independence from Chicago-style Politics

We hold these truths to be self-evident ….

                That the people of all counties are created equal, that they are endowed with certain Rights.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

That whenever any leaders of Government become destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to remove them. 

The inept and often corrupt leadership of Chicago and Cook County has caused significant damage not only to their own county, but also the entire state.  State leadership, all from Chicago, has conspired essentially to colonize the County of Will for the benefit of themselves.  Will County Democrats shown that their loyalty is to Chicago politicians and not to the residents of Will County.  To prove this, let the facts be submitted to a candid world;

The new congressional map sliced Will County into pieces.  Half of all Will County Congressional Districts will likely be represented in Congress by a Chicago politician, like Congressman Bobby Rush, a convicted criminal and former Black Panther Street Gang Defense Minister; like Jesse Jackson Jr., currently under investigation for ethics violations in Congress and like Dan Lipinski appointed by Democrat insiders to fill his father’s vacancy, skipping the primary.

·         All Democratic Will County State Representatives and State Senators voted in favor of this map which gives control to Cook County.

·         Will County Democrat elected officials stood silently as their home county was cut apart.

·         In the middle of the night on the last day of the lame duck session, Chicago politicians passed a 67% income tax increase.  Almost all Democratic State Representatives and State Senators from Will County voted for the bill.

·         Our sales tax collected in Will County helps fund the Chicago Transit Authority pension system.

·         Will County residents provide the majority of school district funding.  Chicago schools are funded primarily from our state and federal tax dollars.

·         While Will County is still suffering from an unemployment rate much higher than the national average, Will County Democrats continue to push for property tax increases.

·         Will County Democratic leaders have used their positions for personal and family enrichment by providing  free state university tuition to the politically connected at a time when families are struggling to provide for higher education for their children.

·         Like the hereditary monarchy of England in 1776, Will County Democratic leaders have by-passed the primary election process to appoint to offices their friends and relatives like Larry Walsh Sr., A. J. Wilhelmi, Pat McGuire, and Larry Walsh Jr., who are loyal to the Chicago controlled Democrat machine instead of loyal to the citizens of Will County.

         We, therefore, declare Will County’s independence from Chicago-style politics.  And for support of this Declaration, We Will:

·         Faithfully serve the citizens of Will County, not special interest or political groups .

·         Stand strong against Chicago politicians taxing Will County residents to bail out Chicago and Cook County.

·         Promote spending cuts over tax increases.

·         Support the election process and protect the right of Will County residents to choose their candidates.

·         Restore integrity to Will County government.

·         Open employment and contractual opportunities to all Will County residents and end the long practice where the politically connected are given special consideration.

Will County Republicans to Declare Independence from Cook County!

The Facts Speak for Themselves...

Please click on the link to read what we have discovered in our research...

·         The current plan being floated by Democrats to solve the massive state pension debt problem is to shift that responsibility from state to local government.  This will result in a dramatic increase in your property taxes.

·         25% of the increase in our county sales tax goes to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). (See Chart Below)

·         Will County property taxes provide the vast majority of local school funding, while the Chicago Public School district gets most of its funding from state and local resources.  You are paying for two school districts! Here is Chicago Public School 2012 Budget (see page 5). Compare to Plainfield School District.

·         In a power grab, the Chicago Democrats drew a new congressional map resulting in half of Will County districts being represented by Chicago Machine Democrats – Jesse Jackson Jr., Bobby Rush, and Dan Lapinski – who will they look out for?

·         All legislative Democrats voted in favor of the map that took political power away from Will County and gave it to Chicago Democrats.  Will County Democrats stood silent.

·         In the middle of the night during a  lame duck session almost all Democrats voted for the 67% income tax increase.

·         Will County Democrats have used College Tuition Waivers for the politically connected instead of struggling families in need.

When the Chicago Machine wants local Democrats to vote in favor of having local governments paying
for the pension shortage, do you think they will represent you or the Chicago Machine?
That is why we are providing you references. We want to prove to you the facts listed above.

How the New Will County Sales Tax Increase is Distributed...

Local Government	Distributed To...							Total	Detail
	RTA	CTA	Metra	Pace	Pace ADA	ICE	County
Aurora	$6,594	$13,715	$37,453	$17,276	$11,737	$1,187	$43,915	$131,878	Aurora Tax
Beecher	$14,174	$29,482	$80,509	$37,136	$25,230	$2,551	$94,399	$283,481	Beecher Tax
Bolingbrook	$399,491	$830,941	$2,269,109	$1,046,667	$711,094	$71,908	$2,660,610	$7,989,821	Bolingbrook Tax
Braceville	$123	$256	$700	$323	$219	$22	$821	$2,465	Braceville Tax
Braidwood	$12,629	$26,268	$71,732	$33,087	$22,479	$2,273	$84,108	$252,576	Braidwood Tax
Channahon	$23,006	$47,852	$130,673	$60,275	$40,950	$4,141	$153,219	$460,116	Channahon Tax
Coal City	$2	$5	$14	$6	$4	$0	$16	$49	Coal City Tax
Crest Hill	$68,328	$142,123	$388,105	$179,020	$121,625	$12,299	$455,067	$1,366,568	Crest Hill Tax
Crete	$28,727	$59,752	$163,168	$75,264	$51,134	$5,171	$191,321	$574,536	Crete Tax
Diamond	$4,495	$9,351	$25,534	$11,778	$8,002	$809	$29,940	$89,910	Diamond Tax
Elwood	$5,258	$10,936	$29,863	$13,775	$9,358	$946	$35,015	$105,151	Elwood Tax
Frankfort	$165,550	$344,344	$940,325	$433,741	$294,679	$29,799	$1,102,564	$3,311,004	Frankfort Tax
Godley	$25	$52	$143	$66	$45	$5	$167	$502	Godley Tax
Homer Glen	$99,172	$206,278	$563,297	$259,831	$176,526	$17,851	$660,485	$1,983,439	Homer Glen Tax
Joliet	$666,287	$1,385,877	$3,784,510	$1,745,672	$1,185,991	$119,932	$4,437,471	$13,325,740	Joliet Tax
Lemont	$439	$912	$2,491	$1,149	$781	$79	$2,921	$8,773	Lemont Tax
Lockport	$87,434	$181,863	$496,625	$229,077	$155,633	$15,738	$582,311	$1,748,680	Lockport Tax
Manhattan	$10,010	$20,821	$56,858	$26,227	$17,818	$1,802	$66,668	$200,206	Manhattan Tax
Minooka	$199	$414	$1,131	$522	$354	$36	$1,326	$3,981	Minooka Tax
Mokena	$105,884	$220,238	$601,419	$277,415	$188,473	$19,059	$705,185	$2,117,672	Mokena Tax
Monee	$16,297	$33,899	$92,570	$42,699	$29,009	$2,934	$108,541	$325,949	Monee Tax
Naperville	$61,357	$127,622	$348,506	$160,754	$109,215	$11,044	$408,635	$1,227,133	Naperville Tax
New Lenox	$131,928	$274,410	$749,351	$345,651	$234,832	$23,747	$878,640	$2,638,560	New Lenox Tax
Orland Park	$6,296	$13,095	$35,759	$16,495	$11,206	$1,133	$41,929	$125,914	Orland Park Tax
Park Forest	$98	$204	$556	$257	$174	$18	$652	$1,959	Park Forest Tax
Peotone	$22,536	$46,875	$128,005	$59,045	$40,114	$4,056	$150,090	$450,722	Peotone Tax
Plainfield	$154,354	$321,055	$876,728	$404,406	$274,749	$27,784	$1,027,995	$3,087,071	Plainfield Tax
Rockdale	$24,958	$51,912	$141,759	$65,389	$44,424	$4,492	$166,217	$499,151	Rockdale Tax
Romeoville	$156,010	$324,501	$886,136	$408,746	$277,698	$28,082	$1,039,026	$3,120,198	Romeoville Tax
Sauk Village	$16	$33	$91	$42	$28	$3	$107	$320	Sauk Village Tax
Shorewood	$109,557	$227,879	$622,285	$287,040	$195,012	$19,720	$729,651	$2,191,144	Shorewood Tax
Steger	$11,503	$23,927	$65,339	$30,139	$20,476	$2,071	$76,612	$230,067	Steger Tax
Symerton	$33	$68	$185	$86	$58	$6	$217	$653	Symerton Tax
Tinley Park	$130,488	$271,415	$741,173	$341,879	$232,269	$23,488	$869,051	$2,609,764	Tinley Park Tax
University Park	$14,775	$30,732	$83,921	$38,710	$26,299	$2,659	$98,401	$295,498	University Park Tax
Wilmington (Will County)	$32,552	$67,708	$184,896	$85,286	$57,943	$5,859	$216,797	$651,041	Wilmington (Will County) Tax
Woodridge	$1,337	$2,781	$7,594	$3,503	$2,380	$241	$8,904	$26,739	Woodridge Tax
Unincorporated Will County	$126,753	$263,647	$719,959	$332,094	$225,621	$22,816	$844,177	$2,535,066
Will County Use Tax Allocation	$34,045	$70,813	$193,374	$89,197	$60,599	$6,128	$226,737	$680,893
Total Sales Tax Collection	$2,732,719	$5,684,056	$15,521,846	$7,159,725	$4,864,240	$491,889	$18,199,911	$54,654,387
Source: State of Illinois Department of Revenue and the Regional Transportation Authority

Effective April 1, 2008, the RTA sales tax in the Collar Counties increased from 0.25% to 0.75%. Each county retains half of the proceeds of the 0.5% increase collected in the county. These proceeds can only be utilized for transportation (highways and transit) and/or public safety purposes. The amounts distributed to the CTA, Metra, Pace, ADA Paratransit, the Suburban Community Mobility Fund (SCMF), the Innovation, Coordination, and Enhancement (ICE) Fund, and the County are estimated based on results for the corresponding Collar County. The SCMF amount is included in the Pace total.
Click here to see these figures for the entire 6-county RTA service area.

Let's send Chicago politicians back to Chicago!