Friday evening, the House of Representatives voted 71-45 to pass the legislative maps which will be in place for the next decade. Below is a statement from State Representative Tim Ozinga (R – Mokena) in response:
“This is a sad day for the people of Illinois. A state where former senators have been indicted on several corruption charges and the people close to the former speaker have been indicted in relation to a federal bribery scheme, the politicians get to choose their constituents. The process was hidden behind closed doors and used data which is unknown to the public. Without the census data from the U.S. Census Bureau, it is impossible for legislators to know if these districts are near equal in population and represent the people of Illinois accurately. Legislative maps should not be drawn by politicians. They should not be drawn for political advantage. What is clear about these maps is they were drawn both by politicians and for political advantage. While the General Assembly has failed this duty, I call on the Governor to veto these maps has he has promised in favor of truly representative and fair maps.”