* Press release…

Despite the past documented evidence of Illinois’ Democrat leaders, including Governor JB Pritzker and new House Speaker Chris Welch, stating support for a fair, transparent and non-partisan redistricting process, they continue to press on with the current partisan process. Today, Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), Assistant Minority Leader Tim Butler (R-Springfield) and Assistant Minority Leader Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) again laid bare the hollowness of Democrat leaders’ past promises and pointed to how it further exacerbates the cloud of corruption and public mistrust in the state.

“Democrats have claimed to be in support of fair maps for years, but when it comes to real action they always go back on their word,” Durkin said. “Every opportunity to implement fair maps has been met with rejection by the Democrats. Their record speaks for itself.”

In 2016, then State Representative Chris Welch, co-sponsored HJRCA 58 to create an independent redistricting commission, which later passed the House with 105 YES votes. He even published an op-ed supporting the measure and stated, “The redistricting, or ‘remap,’ of state legislative districts that’s mandated by law to occur after the U.S. Census every 10 years is very important. Unfortunately, the process has often been criticized as too political and one where voters are left without a voice.

“To address these issues, I’m supporting House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 58 (HJRCA 58), which is a comprehensive, bipartisan measure that will put an independent commission in charge of drawing state legislative district boundaries and protect minority representation.”

Before the current partisan redistricting process began this spring, Republicans filed the People’s Independent Maps Act, Senate Bill 1325, using identical language from SJRCA 4, a constitutional amendment for an independent redistricting commission introduced by Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) in 2019. That resolution garnered 37 co-sponsors in the Senate including 18 Democrats and was nearly identical to the 2016 HJRCA 58 that Welch co-sponsored.

* Tribune editorial…

In the Senate, numerous Democratic incumbents have signed onto or sponsored bills in recent years supporting remap reform, including Sens. Scott Bennett of Champaign, Melinda Bush of Grayslake, Rachelle Crowe of Glen Carbon, Bill Cunningham of Chicago, Laura Ellman of Naperville, Laura Fine of Glenview, Ann Gillespie of Arlington Heights, Suzy Glowiak Hilton of Western Springs, David Koehler of Peoria, Julie Morrison of Lake Forest, Laura Murphy of Des Plaines and Steve Stadelman of Rockford.

Their party holds a supermajority in the Senate. Don’t let them get away with more empty rhetoric on why there is no independent commission, and why their party leaders are now behind closed doors drawing a map with districts drawn to protect their incumbency.

“They are absolutely dead silent on this issue,” House GOP Leader Jim Durkin tells us. “This is an extension of the Madigan playbook.”

* Greg Hinz…

Springfield Republicans are turning up the heat on how Democrats are handling remap, calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to stand by his vow to veto an “unfair” map, and suggesting that new House Speaker Chris Welch is beginning to govern in the style of predecessor Mike Madigan. […]

At a news conference, House GOP Leader Jim Durkin and colleagues repeatedly accused Democrats of “hypocrisy” in how they’ve handling remap, the short-hand term for decennial reapportionment of congressional, legislative and local government districts.

“The hypocrisy is at the highest level I’ve ever observed. . . .It’s a continuation of the old business model which has put Illinois in peril, both financially and ethically,” said the Western Springs Republican, referring in part to the Commonwealth Edison bribery scandal that brought down Madigan.

* The response from Speaker Welch’s spokesperson Jaclyn Driscoll was truncated in the above piece, so I asked for the entire thing. It’s a doozy…

Speaker Welch has never suggested that maps will be drawn solely using ACS data. As he’s reiterated numerous times, it is one of the alternative sources of data suggested by the National Conference of State Legislatures. It is one of the aggregated data sets the committee is using, just like several other states, including Oklahoma and Colorado.

But, to suggest that we are not considering all voices throughout Illinois is a lie. House Democrats have held 27 public hearings to listen to people in every part of this state about what their communities look like to them. Republicans provided no witnesses for the hearings and are choosing to dismiss the public’s input because their only goal is to rig the process for their own political benefit – just like their right-wing allies are doing across the country with no regard to public input.

In fact, the top Republican on the state’s Redistricting Committee is on record saying his criteria for a fair map is one that elects more Republicans. This political posturing by Republicans is nothing more than an attempt to disregard constitutional deadlines in a desperate hope that a single Republican appointee, who is accountable to no one, can draw the map. That is not democracy and it’s a disservice to the people of this state.

Few people showed up to the hearings, which could lead some to think that maybe not many care about this despite the polling.

…Adding… Press release…

Illinois Senate Republican Redistricting Caucus Chair Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) is calling on Senate leadership to stop blocking redistricting reform legislation from advancing and to hold a hearing on his independent redistricting legislation.

“Everyone from the Senate President to the Governor has repeatedly expressed their support for redistricting reform,” Barickman said. “We have a proposal that has had bipartisan support in both chambers. The only reason to block attempts at reform is to allow one party to produce a purely partisan map. Why else would they would be hiding from this legislation now?”

Senate Bill 1325, filed by Barickman, uses identical language from SJRCA 0004, a constitutional amendment for an independent redistricting commission that was introduced by Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) in 2019. That resolution garnered 37 co-sponsors in the Senate including 18 Democrats. A similar independent commission amendment co-sponsored by Speaker of the House Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch (D-Hillside) passed the House in 2016 with 105 YES votes.

Unfortunately for the people of Illinois, the independent redistricting legislation is being held in the Senate assignments committee, blocking it from being heard in a public committee, despite the urgent timing of the issue.

On April 21, 2021, Barickman sent a formal request to Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) to extend the Third Reading Deadline on the legislation, along with a request to Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford (D-Chicago) asking that the legislation be released from the Assignments Committee so that it can be heard and debated in the appropriate public committee.

“The people of Illinois have been demanding that the Legislature take the power away from politicians to draw their own maps,” said Barickman. “It’s time that Democratic leaders listen to the people of Illinois and follow their own campaign promises to fix the system.”