April 8, 2010

This week, Senate Democrats introduced their plan to change the way district maps are drawn in Illinois.  However, good government groups and state Republicans both said the proposal falls short of true redistricting reform, as politicians would still be allowed to draw their own districts.

Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno was also critical of the plan, which she said falls far short of what needs to happen in Illinois.

“By allowing legislators to continue to draw their own districts, this proposal violates the first basic principle of reform,” Radogno explained. “The new Senate Democrat proposal continues the current practice in Illinois that allows politicians to pick their voters instead of the other way around. It’s a practice that allows friends to be rewarded, enemies to be punished and voters to be short-changed.”

Additionally, unlike the plans advanced by Senate and House Republicans (SJRCA 104 and HJRCA 56), the Senate Democrat’s plan does nothing to encourage bi-partisan compromise. The Republicans’ plan requires an extra-ordinary majority to approve redistricting maps, while the Senate Democrats plan allows a map to be adopted by a simple majority vote in each House—after it has been drawn by the politicians.

Reform groups, which have advanced alternative plans that take the drawing of legislative districts out of the hands of politicians, reacted quickly and negatively to the scheme.  

"The whole point of what we're doing is to get it out of the hands of the Legislature so that incumbents can't guarantee their own elections," said Jan Czarnik, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Illinois.

House Republican Leader Tom Cross said, “We appreciate that the Senate Democrats are continuing to follow our lead when it comes to proposing reforms in Illinois—unfortunately like many of their proposals—this latest redistricting reform proposal falls short.  Our reform proposal which was filed in February—DOES NOT allow the politicians to draw their own districts.  The Senate Democrats proposal still allows the politicians to continue to draw their own districts.  That hasn’t worked well for four decades and it doesn’t work now.  We encourage the Senate Democrats to endorse our proposal that will truly reform the current system.”  

The media has already begun speaking out against the Democrat plan. A Chicago Sun-Times editorial on Wednesday, April 7 noted that they prefer the Republican-backed redistricting proposals, "which would strip the Legislature of the direct power to draw districts in Illinois and give that responsibility to a bipartisan commission."

The Sun-Times pointed out that "no redistricting system can be completely free of interest-group politics," but a better system would be one that puts the power in the hands of voters, not incumbents and their respective parties.  According to the editorial, “Illinois needs a legislative mapmaking process that puts democracy above partisan self-interest.”

Republican members of the Senate and House have called for gerrymandering reform in Illinois for years. Republican lawmakers have consistently argued that politicians should not be in charge of drawing the maps, the maps should not be drawn based on the incumbent legislator’s residence, using partisan voting history of district residents to draw maps discourages competition and reduces voter choice, and the redistricting process should be transparent and open for public review. 

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