Back bid to fix system of drawing districts
12/4/2009

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial

Illinois voters, prep your John Hancocks. Citizen petitions began circulating Thursday to fix the perverse way Illinois draws its state legislative districts -- a way that stacks the deck in elections in favor of incumbents.

Don't be shy about signing on the dotted line.

The goal is 500,000 signatures by April, enough to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot asking voters if they want to strip from legislators the power to draw legislative districts and give that power to an independent, bipartisan commission. Nine other states already do it this way.

Fierce partisanship and incumbency protection now poison any honest effort at redistricting, a process done every 10 years, after the U.S. census is complete.

Our state's politicized system frequently creates illogical, gerrymandered legislative districts that virtually guarantee re-election for incumbents. Ninety-eight percent of recent elections, in fact, were won by incumbents, according to the backers of this citizen initiative, including the League of Women Voters, the Better Government Association and a former member of the Illinois Reform Commission, a bipartisan group appointed by Gov. Quinn.

This stark reality discourages both competitors and voters. Why vote if the outcome is preordained?

It's hard to think of a single reason to preserve the current system and, fortunately, a growing number of legislators agree. Several redistricting reform plans are floating around Springfield, and a Senate committee has held several hearings on the topic, with plans to unveil a reform proposal next week.

But if the Legislature is left to its own devices, even its best proposals inevitably will be watered down. It is simply in no incumbent legislator's self-interest to give up control over drawing the boundaries of his own district. He has too much to lose.

For that reason, we wholeheartedly support this citizen initiative, known as the Illinois Fair Map Amendment.

In brief, the proposed amendment would create a commission, with equal numbers of members picked by legislative leaders from both parties. To minimize political influence, the commission members could not have worked as a lobbyist or for the state for four years before being appointed and could not be elected to the General Assembly for 10 years after their service. Collectively, this eight-member group would pick a ninth member as chairman. The commission would draw up a map with compact and sensible boundaries, without regard to voting histories in existing districts, and submit it to the Legislature for a vote. This new system also would allow for significant public input and make transparency a top priority.

It is not a perfect system but, on balance, it is vastly superior to what Illinois has done for the last 40 years -- let the pols gerrymander the map to protect their own jobs.

If between now and April, the state Legislature manages to whip up a redistricting reform scheme that truly ends the political games, we'll wholeheartedly embrace that proposed constitutional amendment as well.

But we've been to Springfield, where self-preservation is the first rule of the road. Our bet is on the Illinois Fair Map Amendment.

Its backers call it a "citizens' movement to take back Illinois."

That sounds about right.

For more details on the proposed redistricting reform plan, go to www.ilfairmap.com.

SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times