May 28, 2011

Within 24 hours Democrat lawmakers filed and rushed through a legislative boundary map that places political advantage before the interests of the public.

Though the once-in-a-decade process establishes legislative boundaries that the people of Illinois will have to abide by for the next 10 years, the Democrat majority gave the people of this state only 24 hours to review the map that was jammed through the General Assembly on May 27.

“Illinois’ redistricting process is rotten to the core,” said State Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) during debate.

Senate Bill 1177 was approved on a strictly partisan roll-call. Procedural maneuvers made it impossible for any member of the Senate of either party to offer amendments, despite a much better option proposed May 26 by Senate and House Republicans.

The Fair Map plan offered by the Republican lawmakers was drawn without consideration of incumbency, with a primary focus on the Federal Voting Rights Act, the Illinois Voting Rights Act, the United State’s Constitution and the Illinois Constitution.

“When analyzing the Democrat map, it’s clear that political advantage was given priority. The Fair Map removes political advantage from the process,” State Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) said. “Political data, such as where incumbents live and constituent voting records, is not taken into account under the Fair Map proposal.”

Righter, who is the Republican spokesperson on the Senate Redistricting Committee, also noted that at many of the public redistricting hearings, community members asked legislators to respect county and municipal boundaries whenever possible when drawing legislative districts. The Fair Map maintains the integrity of more local government boundaries, so the public can more easily locate their local legislators.

Additionally, the Fair Map proposal better reflects Latino population growth, while protecting the rights of African Americans. The Fair Map creates 12 Latino-majority House Districts and 18 African-American majority house districts—four more minority districts than the partisan map that was passed.

For more information on the Fair Map visit www.redistricting.senategop.net. Accompanying data is available on the Web site.

Having been approved earlier in the day by the House of Representatives, Senate Bill 1177 will now proceed to the Governor’s desk for further consideration.

Gov. Pat Quinn has consistently said his only interest was ensuring the people of Illinois have a fair legislative map. Voters will soon see if the Governor was sincere, or if once again politicians will be allowed to cherry-pick their voters behind closed doors.