 Republicans and groups like the
Illinois Campaign for Political
Reform and Change Illinois said the Democrats are rushing to approve
a map and are not being open enough to the public.State Sen. Dale
Righter, R-Mattoon, criticized a legislative maneuver referred as a
shell bill, which is essentially a placeholder for late-breaking
proposals. The map could be placed in a shell bill and fast-tracked
to a vote, possibly before the deadline at the end of the month.
"Putting shell bills in position like this is positioning the
Democrat majority to be able to put a map out there, let it sit
there for an hour and blow it out of the General Assembly in less
than a day," said Righter.
Because the Democrats hold the majority of elected positions,
they oversee and draft the redistricting map into legislation.
Eventually the House and Senate must merge their proposals into a
single bill.
States redraw their political lines each decade to reflect
population changes. Data from the 2010 census is being used in the
current remapping process, in which some lawmakers may see their
districts trimmed.
But state Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, said the level of
transparency during the mapmaking process was unparalleled. The
Legislature hosted hearings before and after the redistricting map
was drawn -- and the current proposed map is online.
"As soon as we had a proposed map, we put it out on there," said
Raoul.
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Peter Bensinge, co-chairman of Change Illinois, said lawmakers
need to continue to involve the public in the mapmaking process,
until the map is finalized. Change Illinois is a coalition of civic,
business, labor, professional, nonprofit and philanthropic
organizations, and individuals united to combat Illinois' culture of
political corruption, according to its website.
Democrats plan to present a map to Gov. Pat Quinn before May 31.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BENJAMIN YOUNT]
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