Illinois Republicans may be taking a cue from an unlikely source: former Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

“Never allow a good crisis go to waste,” Emanuel said infamously. “It's an opportunity to do the things you once thought were impossible.”

The Illinois Constitution requires the state to redraw its legislative districts after the census. That must be done by June 30th or else a bipartisan redistricting committee kicks in. What the state constitution didn’t account for was a pandemic complicating and delaying official census numbers.

Under normal circumstances, because Democrats have the supermajority in the House and Senate and control the Governor’s office, they would have free reign to draw the new maps to favor themselves. It would have been impossible for Republicans to stop it. It happened in 2011. This time, the problem is the information state lawmakers need to redraw the maps won’t be arriving until August or September, well past the early summer deadline. If the June 30th deadline isn’t met, that kicks in the bipartisan committee, bring the GOP out of irrelevance.

“Because of the delay in the census data this year, we have a wonderful opportunity in front of us to reimagine how we draw maps here in Illinois,” said Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield), the lead House Republican on the House Redistricting Committee. “This gives us an opportunity, in a bipartisan manner, to figure out a new way forward in drawing maps.”

A group of Republicans are introducing “The People’s Independent Maps Act.” The legislation would allow the Illinois Supreme Court to appoint 16 independent commissioners to draw legislative maps instead of the General Assembly. The sponsors of the bill said the high court could consider party identity, political donations and geographical representation when deciding who to choose.

“This is something that I think we need to do to make us more accountable to the people but also it shows the people to have trust in government if they know the maps aren’t being drawn behind closed doors,” Butler said.

While it may sound like the “fair” thing to do, an independent commission would undoubtedly help Republicans who have been in the proverbial legislative wilderness in recent years in the superminority. Illinois may be a “blue state”, but Democratic mapmakers have done the GOP no favors either.

So why would Democrats give up a system which works to their advantage? House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) said because Democrats have said they would.

“Every year, we hear over and over again from Democrats in the House, those on the other side of the aisle, of how much they support fair maps,” Durkin said. “During election season, they literally trip over each other to the editorial boards to proclaim who is more fair map than the other.”

Durkin said the bill was practically identical to a constitutional amendment last year which garnered widespread bipartisan support but ultimately wasn’t adopted. He put pressure on Governor JB Pritzker to pressure his fellow Democrats into keeping a common campaign promise.

“(Pritzker) has made several promises he would veto an unfair map,” he said. “In 2018, October, right before the election, candidate JB Pritzker stated that ‘the General Assembly should create an independent commission to draw the map and he urges Democrats and Republicans to agree to a commission for the map making’. That was candidate Pritkzer. Where are you at now Governor?”

House Speaker Chris Welch has also voted in support of a bipartisan commission in the past and said when he won the job in January that he would support a “fair” map.

The Illinoize reached out to House Speaker Chris Welch, Senate President Don Harmon and Gov. Pritzker’s spokesperson. So far, none of them have responded.

“We have literally a majority of the General Assembly that has either voted for or supports a commission style to draw maps,” Butler said. “A majority in both chambers support this. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t move forward with this. Democrats want this. Republicans want this. The only people that are holding this up are a handful of people who want to draw the maps in back rooms so that people don’t see it.”

Democrats might have a workaround, though. The current plan involves using American Community Survey data from the US Census Bureau. It’s not the census data itself but Democrats appear ready to use the data in an effort to meet the June deadline.

Gerrymandering, the drawing of legislative lines to one’s political advantage, has been done by both parties effectively across the country. Republicans have created ironclad majorities in competitive states like Wisconsin and Ohio by drawing meandering districts to their own advantage. That’s part of why Congressional Democrats included requiring all states to have an independent commission to draw legislative maps as part of its voter rights reforms passed by the Democratically-controlled House. It’s not often Illinois Republicans will openly side with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“Every Democrat in the Illinois congressional delegation voted for that so they support, the congressional Democrats in Illinois support, redistricting commissions,” Butler said. “The only people that seem to not be pushing for redistricting commissions in Illinois are now the Governor, President Harmon and Speaker Welch.”

The clock is ticking to draw the maps Illinois voters will live by for the next decade. A once-in-a-century pandemic has complicated the once-a-decade process. Illinois Republicans are hoping good governance could be good politics for them as well.

“If there ever was a time for us to do something that is bold, which is correct, which will give people of Illinois confidence that we are about changing Illinois in dramatic fashion, this is the place to do it,” Durkin said. “This is the ultimate ethics reform measure. It’s time to put up or shut up. Live by what you (Democrats) have campaigned on.”

Ben Garbarek

@bengarbarek ben@theillinoize.com