Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD – House and Senate redistricting committees will hold a series of public hearings this week on a proposed new set of legislative maps that Democrats released late Friday, despite the fact that official census data won’t be available until later this year.
The Democrats’ decision to release the maps after 7:30 p.m. Friday, combined with the fact that the majority party also has not divulged all of the data sources they used to draw the maps, drew sharp criticism from Republicans, who called on Gov. JB Pritzker to veto the maps if they pass.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times file; Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register via AP-file
Illinois House Republicans on Monday blasted Democrats for the “lowest of lows” in their release of new legislative maps, accusing the majority party of trying to “ramrod” the proposed redrawn boundaries through the General Assembly just a week before it’s scheduled to adjourn.
The Republican legislators called on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to veto the maps if the Legislature passes them.
“[The Democrats] scheduled four public hearings this week, two of which are on the same day, in an attempt to ramrod these maps through the General Assembly before May 31,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin.
Despite federal aid and higher than expected revenues, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker faces several obstacles in getting his budget proposal passed before the state legislature adjourns on May 31.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images file
Sometime within the next week, Illinois Democrats are expected to take the wraps off a state legislative redistricting proposal that will press their numeric advantage in the General Assembly, followed at some point by a Congressional remap that will do likewise.
And I say: Go for it!
This obviously is not the good government position I have long embraced along with other do-gooder types who have yearned for a bipartisan independent mapmaking commission that would take the redistricting process out of the hands of lawmakers.
Opinion
The notion that we could bring some positive change to Illinois government by reforming the process of how we draw our political boundaries has always appealed to me.
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As a panel of state lawmakers prepares to grill members of Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration over how a COVID-19 outbreak at a state-run veterans’ home grew so massive it killed more than a quarter of the facility’s residents in the fall, Republicans in the Illinois House on Tuesday sent Attorney General Kwame Raoul a letter urging his office to open a criminal investigation into the matter.
The hearings and letter come on the heels of a damning report published by Pritzker’s office April 30, which places blame for the deadly viral outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home on a variety of factors, including lack of preparation, absentee leadership, lax COVID protocols and poor communication not just within the facility, but at the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs.