Breaking away from Cook County

The March 13 article "Proposal would ease suburbs' break from Cook County" discusses legislation proposed by (state) Sen. Matt Murphy and Rep. Suzanne Bassi that would make it easier for townships to leave Cook County.

I applaud their efforts.

Based on population, Cook County with its 5 million-plus people is larger than 30 of our states.

By that measure alone, it makes sense to split Cook into two or more counties. Throw in the fact that suburban taxpayers feel that they are getting shortchanged when it comes to county services and the idea makes even more sense.

The current county government's seeming love affair with patronage hires, sweetheart deals and pay-to-play politics only reinforces the arguments that something needs to be done.

If legislation can provide the means to kiss Stroger and company goodbye, then I'm all for it.

If not, there may be other options. This November, voters will be asked if a constitutional convention should be held to review and propose possible changes to the Illinois Constitution.

At such a convention, the delegates, which we would elect, can work on all sorts of issues such as recall, binding citizen referenda, term limits and perhaps even capping the size of any given county.

For those reasons, and many more, I urge everyone to vote "yes" this November for a constitutional convention.

In the meantime, if any of the suburban townships make progress in their attempt to find a viable way to secede from Cook County, please don't forget to invite Norwood Park Township.

Joe Scott

Harwood Heights