Redistricting maps are an abuse of power
As the proposed map for new congressional districts in Illinois made the rounds Friday, Sen. Mark Kirk, a Republican from Highland Park and until recently a congressman himself, issued a predictable statement decrying the proposed new boundaries.
“The draft map is the unfortunate result of cynical partisans who want to override the decision of Illinois voters who elected fiscal conservatives to Congress,” Kirk's statement read. “Its main purpose is to force (former House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi (a Democrat) back into power. The map senselessly divides dozens of Illinois communities and denies our growing Hispanic community their rightful opportunity to be fully enfranchised with a second Congressman. This map was gerrymandered to ensure suburban voters will have little voice in Congress.”
We agree with much of Kirk's criticism. This map and the remaps of legislative districts approved by both houses of the General Assembly in party-line votes are bizarrely drawn by Democrats in Springfield to maximize elective chances for Democrats and to minimize them for Republicans.
There's no question about that, and as citizens, no matter our party affiliations, we all should be outraged by that blatant abuse of power.
Still, Kirk's reference to “cynical partisans” contains not just the ring of truth, but also more than a bit of irony. Republicans, of course, have shown themselves often enough to be no less cynically partisan than the Democrats who conveniently now hold the remapping keys in Springfield.
With the Census every 10 years comes redistricting — redrawing boundaries of congressional districts, legislative districts, and all sorts of more obscure governmental districts — to try, theoretically at least, to adjust for the shifts in populations.
It is a messy business, as a look at any map with inexplicable slivers and contorted shapes makes clear. At its base, even with the “honest” maps, the boundaries are centered not around an idea of republican democracy but around the idea of maintaining entrenched politicians in office. If not, wouldn't most districts be shaped somewhat squarely?
No matter how well conceived, every redistricting map is bound to be controversial, imperfect and to some degree unfair. There is no utopian system.
But there are systems that don't lend themselves to suspicion and cynicism.
These maps were drawn more or less in secret by the politicians in power. As state Sen. Michael Noland, a Democrat from Elgin, said, “We're the party in charge; we're the ones who have the opportunity to control the process.”
It doesn't have to be that way.
The Illinois Reform Commission outlined a process that would have put the mapping in the sunlight in the hands of an independent panel.
This change must come. It is central to our freedom.