“Half-measures will not suffice to repair our State’s troubled [governing] infrastructure or our citizens’ broken confidence. … [P]ast reform efforts have met with forces just as destructive as self-interest or corruption: apathy, inertia and cynicism.”
— Illinois Reform Commission, April 28, 2009
Amen to that. And let’s remember, no Illinois scheme promotes that “apathy, inertia and cynicism” more than the sly gerrymandering by which our politicians choose which constituents they’ll represent — rather than the other way around.
The Illinois system of drawing boundary lines for legislative and congressional districts is a protection racket for incumbents. It needs to be fixed — now, before the 2010 federal census provokes the decennial slicing and dicing of Illinois into governmental districts. Citizens who’ve watched legislators’ antics — enabling the now-defrocked Rod Blagojevich, denying voters the right to recall public officials, and running the state’s finances into the ground — have a perfect storm of reasons to demand reform: Illinoisans need to instruct their lawmakers to craft a new reapportionment protocol for Illinois. And legislators need to do so in roll call votes of each house — the better to see who wants this change and who tries to scuttle it.
Not that lawmakers will oblige without being squeezed. Many incumbents of both parties are loath to overhaul the current schemes for mapping their districts. That status quo got many lawmakers — including House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton — the clout they wield today: The power to draw district boundaries lets party leaders keep their House and Senate members in line.
That’s good for the legislative leaders, but a disservice to the people of Illinois. Our job as citizens is to make sure our individual lawmakers deliver this reform.
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The Illinois system of drawing district lines awards control to one major party or the other, literally by the luck of the draw. Win this every-10-years drawing and you control the maps. That is, you can draw district lines to protect your party’s incumbents and maybe steal a few seats from the other party. It’s bleepin’ golden.
This ability to corral voters where the politicians want them means most Illinois legislative and congressional districts are all but guaranteed in advance to produce either Republican or Democratic victors.
Illinois would be wise to drop “Land of Lincoln” from its vehicle license plates and substitute “The Incumbent State.” Here are some disturbing numbers: In the 2008 general election, incumbent legislators got more than 75 percent of the vote in 25 of the 40 state Senate districts that were in contention, and 72 of the 118 House districts.
Why so? Because districts were gerrymandered to deliver the results they did. If Illinois had a fairer, less partisan system of drawing districts, we’d likely elect more centrist and independent lawmakers, and fewer of the timid toadies now panting for the approval of party leaders.
Changing the current system requires amending the state constitution. If the legislature approves an amendment by May 2, 2010, voters can adopt or reject it in the Nov. 2, 2010, general election.
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What should replace Illinois’ current system of redistricting? We like the nationally respected protocol of apolitical mapping that Iowa lawmakers developed decades ago — almost as much as many Illinois legislators fear it. They’re forever noting dismissively that Iowa is a smaller state with different demographics.
That’s true — but irrelevant. Iowa officials perform the same mathematical exercises that Illinois officials use to assure their state’s compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Beyond that lawful sensitivity to the race of voters, the Iowa method also excludes consideration of where incumbents live, party registration of voters, past election results and other tricks Illinois pols use to draw districts they like.
In April we asked Ed Cook, the state of Iowa attorney who oversees his state’s redistricting, whether Iowa’s nonpartisan system would create more competitive races not just there but in all 50 states — regardless of their differing sizes and demographics. His unhesitant answer: “There’s no reason you couldn’t do it everywhere.”
Well, in Illinois there’s one potential reason: the intransigence of political dynasties that want little or no change. But Illinois lawmakers also know they risk exposure — and a voter revolt — if they duck this key suggestion from the Illinois Reform Commission. State senators have been conducting hearings statewide; the last are Sept. 16 in Peoria and Oct. 13 in Carbondale.
Wherever you live, this is a good time to let your local legislators know that you want the Illinois protection racket to end. And stay on their backs until they put a constitutional amendment on the ballot.
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STATE OF CORRUPTION
A Tribune Agenda
Six steps to clean up state government
Unravel government secrecy
Expand anti-corruption powers
Regulate campaign finance
Reform the pension system
Give citizens power to recall
Encourage competitive elections
