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Baked into the cake

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Illinois

* Whatever you think of the rest of the column, Jim Dey’s conclusion is spot on…

“Thumbs down to the Illinois Supreme Court, which … disenfranchised the state’s voters to the benefit of a powerful few,” the Quad-City Times stated [about the redistricting lawsuit].

But, really, who cares? Certainly not the judges who did Madigan’s dirty work. They’re not accountable?

Certainly not Madigan and the legislators he spared from being put to a real electoral test. They’re not accountable either. That’s the whole point behind gerrymandering.

They may not appreciate the accusations coming their ways. But adverse public reaction was baked into the political cake, and it’ll blow over. When it does, they’ll still be in charge, for now and for as far as the eye can see.

Same with the $400,000 copper doors. Same with, well, pretty much everything.

You do what you want and then win the campaigns in the trenches.

But, again, it would be a bit more honest if columnists and editorial writers even occasionally pointed out that Rauner actually managed to win a whole lot of districts that are represented by Democratic legislators. He beat Pat Quinn in Rep. Dan Beiser’s district 55-38, for instance. That’s probably why the Democrats are playing the Ken Dunkin card in August.

* Related…

* Kim Jong Un has North Korean officials killed by anti-aircraft gun, paper says

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 12:57 pm

Comments

“Related…”

HA!

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:08 pm
Have we all forgotten the 90’s.. Republican map and the Dems won all but one cycle in that decade.. Last week’s decision was over when the Repubs fell asleep in the first Kilbride race..quit whining and win some elections..

Comment by Not Rich Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:09 pm
Say what you want about the guy, but Kim Jong Un does get style points for that. It’s not quite sharks with frickin’ laser beams but pretty creative.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:17 pm
Ha!! That made me spit out my coffee.

Comment by Trolling Troll Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:23 pm
So the Mendoza Line for a Republican to get elected governor, is Pat Quinn?

Comment by weltschmerz Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:23 pm
Regarding the map in the 90’s, there was not nearly as good of data back then as there is now about voters. Gerrymandering & voter data analysis has become scientific utilizing the most advanced technologies possible.

Also, the voters of Illinois carry a tremendous about of blame for your system. We are terrible. Everyone knew that George Ryan was going to jail when he was running for governor for the things he did as SOS and he won election. Everyone knew Blago was going to jail and he won reelection. Everyone knews our legislature is terrible, but we keep sending the same people back there. Unfortunately in Illinois, we have the government we deserve.

What will enact real change? Incumbents loosing on both sides of the aisle, we probably don’t even need that many, maybe just 25 - 30% of incumbents loosing would send some shock waves, especially if a couple of them were in safe districts.

Comment by Ahoy! Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:24 pm
It’s too easy to simply blame the Court for partisanship and keep up the rant that MJM is the root of IL dysfunction. The reformers clearly overstepped and drafted poorly, and have only themselves to blame.

Comment by Analyst Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:27 pm
===voter data analysis has become scientific utilizing the most advanced technologies possible===

So, then how do you explain the fact that two congressional districts drawn for Democrats are now represented by Republicans?

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:31 pm
I agree with Analyst. The Supreme Court has been all too partisan over the years. But this majority opinion was consistent with precedent and the language of the Constitution.

Comment by Keyrock Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:33 pm
‘related”- poor reporting- doesn’t say what type or caliber of anti-aircraft cannon-details are important.
“for dozing off…” That would be the answer down in Springfield, huh?

Comment by downstate commissioner Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:35 pm
Rauner wasn’t the only Republican to win a bunch of districts that are represented by Dems. Just look at the House where there are currently 71 Democrats and only 47 Republicans. Yet in 2014 Rauner won 69 of those districts, Topinka 68 and Cross 64. Here are the counts taken from here (the SOS totals are ugly though):

US Senate
Durbin - 67
Oberweis - 51

Governor
Rauner - 69
Quinn - 49

Attorney General
Madigan - 86
Schimpf - 32

Secretary of State
White - 112
Webster - 6

Comptroller
Topinka - 68
Simon - 50

Treasurer
Frerichs - 54
Cross - 64

Comment by The Captain Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:36 pm
How can gerrymandering be “blamed” for the composition of the IL House when Rauner won 69 IL house districts, Topinka won 68 IL House districts and Cross won 64 IL House districts?

Isn’t a more likely explanation simply that Team IL GOP slated weaker candidates in those IL House races?

Comment by Hamlet's Ghost Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 1:53 pm
“Baked into the cake.”

Don’t give Kim Jong Un any ideas.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 2:07 pm
The New York Review of Books had a very interesting article examining the toxic effects of blatantly partisan redistricting (Bonus: The book under review has a title that would instantly summon the Ban Hammer!) http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/08/18/american-democracy-betrayed/

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 2:20 pm
Ahoy!
The word is “losing, not “loosing”. One of Rich’s pet peeves.

Comment by very old soil Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 2:22 pm
Jim Dey and the News-Gazette didn’t mind that in the Republican map of the 90s, Champaign-Urbana was split in two so that it was a minority part of two rural Republican legislative districts.

Comment by The Old Professor Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 2:33 pm
From a purely cynical perspective, the resilience of IL dem leadership is impressive. Reminds me of the Trump comment where he thinks he can shoot people and still get votes.

The public will complain, but for some mysterious reason, they’ll re-elect practically all of them.

Comment by BK Bro Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 3:08 pm
Waah! I’m for map reform too, but proposing a bill that doesn’t meet constitutional muster isn’t worth the parper it’s written on. Try Again and get it right.

Comment by Union Man Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 3:46 pm
What the Republicans want is to be able to draw their own maps in Illinois, like they’ve done in Congress.

Comment by Teach Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 3:58 pm
– But adverse public reaction was baked into the political cake,–

Where has the “adverse public reaction” manifested itself? Is gerrymandering a hot topic of conversation outside the relatively small circle of political junkies and editorial writers?

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 4:09 pm
If Cross won 10 more house districts than Frereichs, then the HD’s must have had a way better GOTV operation than the HGOP.

Comment by LTSW Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 5:14 pm
@LTSW

If this link is correct, it looks like Frerichs won his best house districts by significantly higher margins than the best house districts Cross won.

http://illinoiselectiondata.com/analysis/precinct/statewidebystaterep.php

I wish these tables had raw vote totals.

Comment by Hamlet's Ghost Tuesday, Aug 30, 16 @ 5:26 pm
Using Pat Quinn a comparison…. the man belongs in jail. Quinn was the poster child for Illinois corruption.

Quinn channeled $58,000,000 ear marked to reduce violence in Chicago, channeling those dollars to help by votes, reelect himself.

Then we have some of his appointments…remember the unqualified commandant to run the Illinois State Police.

Comment by Happy Camper Wednesday, Aug 31, 16 @ 12:39 am
Let’s not forget that Rauner was elected because people were dissatisfied with the status quo. The electorate does respond.

He had a golden opportunity to make meaningful changes but failed for reasons I would classify as personal weaknesses.

Comment by peon Wednesday, Aug 31, 16 @ 8:33 am
===it would be a bit more honest if columnists and editorial writers even occasionally pointed out that Rauner actually managed to win a whole lot of districts that are represented by Democratic legislators.===

Once a journalist settles on a narrative, the return of Jesus Christ himself sometimes isn’t enough to drag them off of it.

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Aug 31, 16 @ 9:12 am