McLean County Times

State Rep. Dan Brady (R-Bloomington) is watching his second redistricting season unfold, and is one of many lawmakers calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to stick to his promise to veto a new district map made by politicians. 

With a decades-long history of gerrymandering, many legislators support an independent bipartisan commission of Illinois residents taking over the duty, but some politicians have backed out on their support of the commission idea, and Pritzker may be one of them. 

"There's a saying that says 'the more things change, the more things stay the same.' This will be my second redistricting process that I'm headed into, and we're hoping that saying is not true when it comes to the redistricting process," Brady said in an April 21 Illinois Channel TV report. 

Brady explained that Pritzker responded yes when asked if he would veto any state legislative redistricting map proposal that was drafted or created by legislators, political party leaders, political staff or allies when he was campaigning back in 2018.

Now with the maps due from the statehouse in barely two months, Brady is urging Pritzker to stick to his words.

"In (Pritzker's) words, we should amend the Constitution to create an independent commission to draw legislative maps," Brady said. "He urged Democrats and Republicans to agree to an independent commission to handle creating a new legislative map, and we are hopeful that the governor will stand by what his words were in 2018 as we continue to go through the legislative redistricting process."

In 2016 current House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch said in an op-ed that an independent remapping commission would be a "win-win" and a solution to a process that “has often been criticized as too political and one where voters are left without a voice" according to a Chicago Tribune editorial. 

Welch stated that a committee to remap the districts without political control would prevent the gerrymandering that has plagued the state for decades and lumps minority populations for a politician's gain and to dilute representation, but "now that Welch is in a position to make real change, to lead on an issue that has sidelined voters for so long, that passionate op-ed is forgotten. Politics has taken the lead instead," according to the Tribune. 

If the statehouse can't finalize the maps by June 30, the process will be deferred to an independent commission. Critics feel that engagement in the redistricting hearings have been minimal at best. 

“I testified at the hearing and it’s the process itself,” former House candidate Marco Sukovic told the Prairie State Wire earlier this month. “It’s not one that engaged the public in any meaningful, substantive manner. I asked the senate redistricting committee to give me two figures. The first how many people have participated in these hearings to date – keep in mind they are about halfway through with these hearings – and they told me only 46 people have. You’re thinking about a state of over 12 million people and only 46 people have participated.”