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* Senate GOP Leader Bill Brady…
Gerrymandered districts are designed to shut out the opposing party. In 2012, the Illinois map allowed the Democrats — who drew the map — to win 40 seats out of 59 in the state Senate and 71 seats out of 118 in the state House. They were able to do this though they secured only 52 percent of the vote total in House districts and 54 percent in Senate districts.
Let me put it this way. If the maps were drawn to reflect the true will of voters, created in a non-partisan manner, Illinois Democrats would have won only 62 House seats instead of 71 (52% of all members) and 32 Senate seats instead of 40 (54% of all members).
That’s not a great statistic partly because Latinx districts have really low turnouts. Sen. Tony Munoz (D-Chicago) received 38,261 votes in his essentially uncontested 2012 reelection. Sen. Brady received 81,542 in his uncontested reelection.
Another way to look at the data is to compare Senate results to the top of the ticket. President Obama won 38 Senate districts in 2012. The SDems won 40.
* But this is where I really differ from Leader Brady…
I truly believe that the power of the Democratic Party to draw this supermajority, gerrymandered map is the root of the public corruption we are witnessing now. The Democrats do not feel accountable to anyone because of their ability to control every facet of the state Legislature.
This is not a unique position…
In language seldom used under the Capitol dome, Gov. J.B. Pritzker likened corruption among lawmakers to a “scourge,” saying it “infects the bloodstream of government.”
But there was something missing from the powerful prose in Pritzker’s State of the State address.
“There are an awful lot of us who think the scourge begins when lawmakers draw the lines and pick their own districts. That’s how it enters the bloodstream,” said Madeleine Doubek, executive director of Change Illinois, a nonprofit dedicated to cleaning up government.
It’s still a free country, so you can think or believe whatever you want. However, I’d like to see the data to back up what y’all are saying since you’re trying to pass actual legislation. It’s a hoop that everyone attempting to pass a bill needs to clear.
Because if gerrymandering is truly the root of all evil, then it stands to reason that the states which draw far worse districts, including Wisconsin, would have many more federal prosecutions than Illinois. Is that the case? Show us the numbers.
For the umpteenth time, I am for redistricting reform, but you don’t help your cause by pulling stuff out of thin air, no matter how “right” it may “feel.”
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 11:27 am
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“If the maps were drawn to reflect the true will of voters, created in a non-partisan manner, Illinois Democrats would have won only 62 House seats instead of 71 (52% of all members) and 32 Senate seats instead of 40 (54% of all members).”
That is simply not how anything works. Would a “fair”, nearly random, map be closer to those numbers? Probably. But unless every district matched the overall state exactly in their voting, mostly meaning unless the demographics of every district was the same, the leader is simply wrong.
Comment by Perrid Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 11:35 am
Leader Brady,
With respect…
Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant
Laura Ellman
Laura Fine
Ann Gillespie
Suzy Glowiak Hilton
Linda Holmes
Steven Landek
Pat McGuire
Laura Murphy
The reason these suburban Dems sit in the Senate is a map and the corruption of said map?
That’s doing quite a bit of lifting for terrible campaigns, poor recruiting, a regional messaging, and a far than inclusive party platform.
If you think a “rigged” map is keeping these folks in seats, the party and the chambers, both chambers, are already regional afterthoughts to voters in the collars.
With great respect, when you’re ready and others are ready to move into a big tent party to win seats, you’ll know where to find me.
OW
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 11:41 am
Say what you want to say about gerrymandering in Illinois but when you look at the number of votes in Wisconsin it is clearly rule by the minority. At least in Illinois that can’t be said.
Comment by The Edge Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 11:43 am
How many incumbents are unopposed due to the District being so one sided?
Comment by blogman Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 11:46 am
If Madeleine Doubek and Bill Brady are willing to lie about the evidence for their claimed motivations for so-called “fair maps,” what aren’t they willing to lie about?
Comment by Precinct Captain Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 11:46 am
===How many incumbents are unopposed due to the District being so one sided? ===
That’s simply not the case in other states where the districts are even more lopsided.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 11:50 am
=== How many incumbents are unopposed due to the District being so one sided?===
This is the “lazy” to the argument.
An honest question? Try this;
“How many times have the former GOP caucuses ran folks that truly mirrored the district AND agreed with the platform 80% of the time?”
How many times have the former GOP caucuses ran a candidate that was a hardlined party believer that the district rejected because of those rigid party stances?”
Simple solutions are neither.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 11:53 am
I am unwilling to change Illinois while in so many states Republicans have a gerrymander death grip on their populace.
Comment by RIJ Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 12:43 pm
The current map is almost as old as it can get, but the share of Republicans elected to legislative seats in 2018 is darn near equal to the share of votes for the Republican incumbent governor that year.
So where’s the bias?
Comment by DIstant watcher Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 12:50 pm
Is clearing a hoop a higher standard than clearing a bar or jumping through a hoop?
Comment by Metaphor Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 12:57 pm
==you don’t help your cause by pulling stuff out of thin air==
I think Senator Brady is pulling his argument out of somewhere else.
The bottom line is that no party will win many elections when it fields candidates whose views are increasingly out of synch with mainline views. Senator Brady and others are like carpenters who keep complaining they can’t get a straight cut because the boards are warped. When you fall back on that kind of excuse, it’s a sign you’ve got bigger problems.
Comment by Flapdoodle Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 12:58 pm
In the mid-’90s, the House Dems were the minority for only two years under a Republican map. Is there a draft somewhere of what a “fair” map would actually look like?
Comment by My New Handle Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 1:05 pm
Redistricting reform primarily deals with the issue of incumbents protecting themselves and reducing the level of accountability. For example on the Chicago ward level, Alderman Danny Solis drew out East Pilsen after a challenger in his ward received strong support from that part of the neighborhood. It should’ve made him work harder to engage that community rather than have the power to exclude them. And the whole line about progressive-leaning states being unwilling to do this until conservative-leaning states do likewise is basically admitting we’re not willing to be leaders and improve our democratic process. We can win on the merits, we don’t need this.
Comment by Veil of Ignorance Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 2:27 pm
Evidence? We don’t need no stinkin’ evidence.
Comment by Bourbon Street Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 2:57 pm
If the Dems didn’t have such big majorities, we’d have waited even longer to get a budget over Rauner’s objection.
Gerrymandering saved us from either further debt and destruction.
Thank God for a partisan map.
Comment by Truthteller Tuesday, Feb 18, 20 @ 3:12 pm
“…but you don’t help your cause by pulling stuff out of thin air, no matter how “right” it may “feel.””
Yes. Exactly! Please - everyone - apply above statement to all arguments at all times. Thanks Rich.
Comment by Left Leaner Wednesday, Feb 19, 20 @ 9:49 am