In a video released this week defending his latest redistricting proposal, HJRCA 28, Speaker Chris Welch claimed that “Illinois will always recognize the fundamental principle that a democracy of the people, by the people, and for the people, must include all of the people.”

That sounds nice, unless you are a Republican voter in Illinois.

For years, House Democrats have claimed they are fighting for fair representation, yet their actions tell a very different story. They have drawn legislative maps that rig the system in their favor, weaken political competition, and leave millions of Illinoisans without fair representation.

On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (Savanna) was joined by State Representatives Ryan Spain (Peoria) and Dan Ugaste (Geneva) for a press conference in the State Capitol to discuss their latest litigation effort to combat legislative gerrymandering. McCombie, in her official capacity, filed a lawsuit with the Illinois Supreme Court to declare the current map unconstitutional and ask for a special master to draft a redistricting plan that complies with the Illinois constitution.

Reported by WCIA today: 

Our news cameras were rolling as dozens of House Democrats filed in and out of a locked door on the Capitol Complex grounds. Inside, members of House Speaker Chris Welch’s staff showed members one-by-one where the lines of their new districts could be drawn. 

“Yes, I will pledge to veto,” JB Pritzker said as a candidate in 2018 when asked if he would veto “any state legislative redistricting map proposal that is in any way drafted or created by legislators, political party leaders and/or their staffs or allies.”

He couldn’t have been more clear. “Yes, I will pledge to veto.”

Just in case anyone thought it needed clarification anyway, candidate Pritzker followed up in his answer to a questionnaire in the Northwest Herald: “I support ending the gerrymandering of districts to encourage more competitive elections.”

The Republican Spokesmen of the House and Senate redistricting committees - House Assistant Minority Leader Tim Butler (R-Springfield) and Senate Republican Caucus Chair Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) - are calling for Governor JB Pritzker to testify before a joint hearing of the redistricting committees this evening. Despite more than 30 redistricting hearings taking place, neither the Governor nor a ranking official within his office has provided testimony at a hearing to date.

 

Sign the Petition to Support Independent Maps

By Rep. David S. Olsen (R-Illlinois) and Sen. Frank LaRose (R-Ohio)

"By designing districts for partisan advantage, we send the message that winning elections is more important than upholding democracy."

On Monday, the Supreme Court kicked back to Wisconsin and Maryland state courts two gerrymandering cases that attempted to establish that legislatures that use gerrymandering to ensure partisan outcomes were acting with unconstitutional bias. In doing so, they have essentially ensured that any constitutional remedies to overly partisan gerrymandering will be years away, if they ever come.

We believe, then, that’s it’s up to us — state legislators — to act on behalf of the constituents that elected us and end partisan gerrymandering on our own.

Partisan gerrymandering has plagued our democracy since the days of the Founding Fathers: The jagged edges of many districts don’t reflect real-life boundaries, like rivers or mountain ranges, but rather exist because someone drew lines with the pernicious purpose of manipulating electoral constituency boundaries to favor one party. Read the entire opinion piece by Rep. Olsen & Sen. LaRose. 

If you agree sign the petition to end gerrymandering support independent maps.

 The sun came up Monday, the day after the deadline for putting constitutional amendments on the Nov. 6 ballot — and no, you won’t get to vote this year to end gerrymandering in Illinois. But you knew that.

With the deadline approaching and several versions of the amendment parked in committee, the only signs of life were a few last-minute lawmakers hopping on the bandwagon too late. A version pushed by the reform coalition Change Illinois ended up with 39 sponsors in the Senate — supposedly signaling that it would pass that chamber, if only Senate President John Cullerton would call it for a vote. Which of course wasn’t going to happen. Read the rest of the Tribune Editorial.

Chicago Tribune Editorial:
The people of Illinois want fair legislative maps.

They want maps that are drawn by an independent body working on behalf of voters, not by politicians looking after themselves. They want maps that promote competitive elections instead of protecting incumbents.

They’ve said so, over and over again, in polls going back decades. They’ve collected hundreds of thousands of signatures — three times — and raised millions of dollars, trying to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot.

State lawmakers know this. That’s why they always tell us they want fair maps too. It’s why there are always several fair map proposals on file in Springfield, with many sponsors eager to point to their names at election time... But this year is different. This year, voters want lawmakers to put up or shut up. Read the rest of the Chicago Tribune editorial.

Here's what our members are saying about independent redistricting:

• Rep. David Olsen calls for an independent process to draw maps
• Rep. Spain urges independent redistricting

Proponents of changing the way Illinois draws political maps had their moment Wednesday, but they appear no closer to getting the issue before voters.

Proposed constitutional amendments have been introduced in both the House and Senate that would take the remapping process away from politicians and put it in the hands of an independent commission.

Senate leaders allowed proponents of the amendment to make their case at a subcommittee hearing Wednesday. However, in the House, the proposals have been locked up in the House Rules Committee and time is quickly running out.

Both the House and Senate would have to vote by May 6 to put the issue on the ballot. The House is not scheduled to be in session the week of April 30 through May 4. Read the rest of the story.

A bipartisan group of 17 Illinois state legislators is part of a contingent of lawmakers from various states asking the U.S. Supreme Court to "repair the damage partisan gerrymandering has done to the political process."

The Illinois lawmakers, including three Republican state senators from East Central Illinois, are among nearly two dozen groups that have filed amicus briefs in the Wisconsin redistricting case, Whitford v. Gill, that the court is expected to take up in October.

The 17 Illinois legislators who are listed among 65 current and former state legislators from around the country include Republican state Sens. Chapin Rose of Mahomet, Dale Righter of Mattoon and Bill Brady of Bloomington, as well as two Democratic lawmakers, Sen. Heather Steans of Chicago and Rep. Scott Drury of Highwood.

Their amicus brief filed Tuesday by a New York City law firm says that only the Supreme Court can "redress the damage done" by the partisan drawing of representative district maps. Read the rest of the story by Tom Kacich in the News-Gazette.