Democrat calls for votes against Lake County map, but party unity is unlikely

A Lake County Board member upset about proposed district boundary changes on Friday called for her fellow Democrats to vote against the plan.

But at least two members of the Democratic caucus will buck Melinda Bush’s request for unity and vote for the proposal when the full board debates the matter Tuesday.

Bush, of Grayslake, is one of four Democrats on the board whose districts would be combined under the proposed map, which is the result of population changes measured in the 2010 census.

The changes will force Bush and Pat Carey, also from Grayslake, into the 6th District. It would also put Angelo Kyle, of Waukegan, and Audrey Nixon, of North Chicago, in the same district, the 14th.

Democrats spent much of the last decade chipping away at the long-standing Republican majority on the county board. Of the panel’s 23 members, 13 are Republican and 10 are Democrats.

The new map would cut the total number of board members — who double as Lake County Forest Preserve District commissioners — to 21.

Only Democrats are being squeezed into the same districts, a point that hasn’t been lost on Bush and other members of her party.

“It is a political process,” Carey said during a committee-of-the-whole discussion Friday morning in Libertyville. “I think it is disingenuous.”

The committee that drafted the map and approved reducing districts consisted of five Republicans and two Democrats. One of those Democrats, Waukegan’s Mary Ross Cunningham, lashed out at criticism she’s received over the map.

“I’m tired of being accused,” she said. “I’m sick of it.”

Several board members, including Democrats, got involved in the map-planning process and pushed for district boundaries to be adjusted, Cunningham said.

“Everybody should have (stood) up and done the same thing,” she said.

Cunningham defended the proposed boundaries for her 9th District, which consists of a largely minority population, and is federally protected as a result.

“I’m going to vote for my district,” she said.

Cunningham also objected to Bush’s plea for a Democratic protest.

“I don’t play politics,” she said. “That’s why we’re in trouble now.”

Fellow Waukegan Democrat Diane Hewitt also pledged to vote for the map. Hewitt said she fought for lines to be changed when she saw potential problems.

“I know I was treated fairly by the committee,” Hewitt said. “I have to vote my conscience.”

Nixon and Carey joined Bush in opposing the map.

Bush said she expects unanimous GOP support for the proposed map, which would be enough votes for passage even if all the Democrats opposed it. No Republicans debated the map’s merits or flaws during Friday’s discussion.

The map can be viewed on the county’s official website, lakecountyil.gov.