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Nowlan: Remap too important to leave to Madigan Jim Nowlan The dance of democracy continues in 2021 with the once-a-decade ritual of drawing new state legislative and congressional district lines in Illinois and across the nation. In two-thirds of the states, including Illinois, the legislators themselves draw the lines. This means the party in power draws maps that favor incumbents and enhances its partisan control. This is done rather simply by “cracking” (breaking apart) pockets of opposition party strength or, conversely, by “packing” (concentrating) a party’s voters so as to limit the numbers of districts the opposition can win. A couple of election cycles ago, a friend of mine tallied the total number of votes across Illinois for Democratic and Republican House candidates, respectively. He found that Democrats received 50% of the total vote, yet won 60% of the legislative seats. (That is what is called “gerrymandering,” in honor of Massachusetts ....
Whither the GOP in Illinois? Jim Nowlan Written in quill pen (not literally; it was 1965), my master’s thesis was about “Leaderless Politics: The Illinois Republican Party.” Not much has changed. That was an era when party organization mattered. My thesis was that when Republicans lost control of the governorship, the party became leaderless. Not much has changed. Back then, political patronage provided party leaders with influence over elections. My research showed that under GOP Gov. Bill Stratton (1953-60), 83 of the state’s 102 Republican county chairmen held state jobs. Guess who ran the party? Without a governor and jobs, the party was rudderless. ....
By Jim Nowlan The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University asked me to do some noodling about the future of Illinois. I have mentioned this to several friends. The responses a roll of the eyes; a belly laugh; a retort that it is too late to do anything about Illinois. Nobody has responded that it is a good use of my time, needs to be done. Few, it seems, give a whit about our state. Why might this be so? In the late 19th Century, Illinois was the fastest growing state in the nation. Twenty-seven million from around the world were dazzled by the White City on Chicago’s lakefront, the 1893 World Columbian Exposition. We had some swagger then, and maybe so up to the post-war period of my childhood, as synergies between city and fertile countryside made our state one of the richest. But now, we’re in a funk. ....
JIM NOWLAN: Nobody seems to give a whit about Illinois pantagraph.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pantagraph.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Nobody seems to give a whit about Illinois Jim Nowlan The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU asked me to do some noodling about the future of Illinois. I have mentioned this to several friends. The responses a roll of the eyes; a belly laugh; a retort that it is too late to do anything about Illinois. Nobody has responded that it is a good use of my time, needs to be done. Few, it seems, give a whit about our state. Why might this be so? In the late 19th century, Illinois was the fastest-growing state in the nation. Twenty-seven million from around the world were dazzled by the White City on Chicago’s lakefront, the 1893 World Columbian Exposition. We had some swagger then, and maybe so up to the postwar period of my childhood, as synergies between City and fertile countryside made our state one of the richest. But now, we’re in a funk. ....