Antonnage Still Unsure About Representing Wilkonshire In House

MAVOCKE--She's represented the state of POG for years, which Dlg. Marie Antonnage--CON, says complicates matters worse.

"You know, when you've represented a state as long as I have, it's never easy to decide what to do next when political secession happens," Antonnage told GNN NEWS' James Madine on Tuesday night's edition of "The Capitol Report."

Antonnage was referring to the upcoming statehood vote being held in the Wilkonshire region of POG. Wilkonshire is the name referring to the northeastern region of POG, and voters there will decide if they want to form their own state and leave POG.

The idea of independence for Wilkonshire has been on the table for several decades, but has only come to a vote once, in 1986. It was defeated then overwhelmingly. But supporters say they have enough momentum now to pass a similar vote in October 2007, nearly 21 years after the initial vote.

Proponents of independence say Wilkonshire is being ignored in government, particularly at the state level, because it is less populated than other areas of the state, such as southeastern and northwestern POG, which are more heavily populated areas.

"More attention is being focused on those areas. Everyone is quick to send funding for new roads and schools to Lillac City or Lake City because they're big cities and have a lot of people and politicians have to follow through with that, otherwise they face political repercussions," says Chris Wilcox, Vice President of the Wilkonshire Independence Coalition.

"Politicians can afford to ignore Wilkonshire because there aren't very many people here, and they can get away with it," Wilcox continued.

But opponents of the measure insist the Wilkonshire region, which includes metro areas Oak Valley, Christon, and Provincetown, is in fact being represented fairly in government, and is not being ignored or under-funded.

"The fact is that Lillac City and Lake City have a great deal more people than Provincetown or Christon or Oak Valley. There are more people, so we have to provide more funding," Don Klein told GNN NEWS Lillac City affiliate WLIC-TV. "But Wilkonshire is certainly not underfunded. It receives its due share, which is significantly less than other regions because of the population difference," Klein also adds that independence for Wilkonshire could come at a high cost--an estimated $80 Billion over the next ten years--he says. And Klein says Wilkonshire's independence would not bring the region any more funding."

"Becoming independent from POG is the worst thing that could happen to Wilkonshire. Right now, POG provides a lot of services for that region, and if they form their own state, they're not going to have any more money. In fact, they'll have less money on the state level because they'll have to fund more state employees and they won't have any help from adjacent tax-payers," Klein said.

POG's delegates and representatives have been eerily silent on the issue. Most have said they have no opinion.

But Dlg. Antonnage, who is a native of Wilkonshire, could face a potentially difficult dilemma. If Wilkonshire voters do approve independence, she will have to decide whether to continue representing the state of POG, or run for election to represent the newly-formed state of Wilkonshire.

Antonnage says she hasn't decided yet what to do.

"I don't know what I'm going to do if that's the case. If the voters do approve independence, I may stay in POG, I may decide to run for office in Wilkonshire. I really don't know. It depends on what my family thinks, what my POG colleagues think, and what the party has to say about it too," Antonnage said.

When asked if she supported the independence measure, Antonnage didn't specifically give an answer. "I'm not going to take a position on that one way or the other. Regardless of if it passes or fails, I'm going to respect the decision of the voters. I will say that this is a hard decision for me personally, because I am a native Wilkonshirean, and I love Wilkonshire and I understand some of these concerns. On the other hand, I am also a POG citizen and have always been a POG citizen, and I have traveled across this state for years. I've met some wonderful people all over POG, and the thought of separating from POG is just, in some ways, unimaginable. So this is a huge decision to me. I'm torn."

Dlgs. Shannon Barbieri (CON), Newton Jeffs (CON), Sheila Crouwsky (DR) and Brenton Menuhaeo (NAT) all announced last week they will continue to represent POG if the Wilkonshire independence measure passes.