South West Illinois News

During a news conference organized by Republican lawmakers after the Democratic caucus released their proposed legislative maps, state Rep. Dave Severin (R-Benton) called the release a “head fake.” 

He said that the Democrats are putting more chaos into the process.

“After what I saw on Friday night, I truly believe the map released by the Democrats is a head fake, an old basketball move where they throw even more chaos and confusion into the process. We've seen this show before, 10 years ago. The Democrats released the legislative map that caused chaos and confusion and backstabbing and backroom deals,” Severin said. “That’s what they’re trying to do here as well… it was clear to me during the more-than two dozen hearings I participated in, the Democrats weren't interested in the public input at all.”

He claimed that discussions during the meetings landed on deaf ears.

“The Democrats point to those hearings as some kind of great kindness and transparency but we would sit through the same kind of PowerPoint presentation every meeting, get a chance to ask a few questions, and then the Democrats would go back to making their own map behind closed doors and we know about that,” Severin said.

The maps that were drawn by the Democrats, he said, were not created with transparency, fairness, correct data and are an affront to Illinoisans.

“The Democrats' remap chair Rep. (Lisa) Hernandez (D-Cicero) has said many times that they're using American Community Survey, better known as ACS data, input from legislators, and other sources without identifying what those sources are,” Severin continued. “The map itself looks like a watercolor painting … it’s really kind of an insult to the people of Illinois that the Democrats would release a map with so little detail and so little explanation as to how they even achieved the lines, you can decipher from the pictures I've seen. We need the public's input in this map if we aren't going to go to the independent route.”

The U.S. Census Bureau data is traditionally used for redistricting, not the ACS data. But the census data may not be available until August.

The state constitution also provides that if no redistricting plan is effective by June 30, a bipartisan redistricting commission will be created.