Springfield: We’ll be watching map process

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

One of the Illinois General Assembly’s most important tasks this year will be approving new maps of legislative and congressional districts.

From the state’s 177 General Assembly seats (59 senators and 118 representatives) to a new 18-district congressional map — one fewer than Illinois’ current 19 seats — lawmakers under the dome in Springfield will shape political power here for the next decade.

We intend to hold them to a high standard.

The right thing to do, of course, would be an insistence on their part toward a fair map. That means compact districts that adequately represent the diversity of Illinois, not a jagged puzzle entirely based on Democratic Party re-election prospects.

We want districts in the Southland that make sense. We don’t want to see communities divided into multiple House and Senate districts nor do we want a repeat performance of 2001, when the 11th Congressional District picked up a tiny corridor of McLean County to ensure that former U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller’s parents, who lived there, could vote for him. Those gimmicks should not be tolerated.

As we said, we’re going to hold state lawmakers to a high standard.

With Democrats controlling both the legislative and executive branches in Illinois, there is more need than ever for impartiality. As it stands, Democrats are expected to approve new maps before they adjourn their spring session on May 31. In the meantime, committees of both the House and Senate are hosting hearings for the public to learn about the process.

Two are scheduled in or near the Southland:

At noon Saturday in Iroquois Room, D 152, at Kankakee Community College.

4 p.m. Tuesday in the Performing Arts Center of South Suburban College, South Holland.

At least one interest group, CHANGE Illinois, already finds the process dubious. The hearings are taking place now, before the maps are available for public viewing. It is cart-before-horse at best.

Regardless of the hearings, voters still can be heard through their local legislators. Don’t be shy about calling your state lawmakers and demanding a fair map.

After all, the map will be around long after many of them disappear. It’s only right to make sure it makes sense for us, not specifically for their re-election campaigns.