Peoria Standard

Republican state representative and House GOP Redistricting Committee spokesperson Tim Butler wants Gov. J.B. Pritzker to speak about the burning issue of map redistricting.

“Today, we’re sending a letter to the governor asking that he or a high-level member of his team appear at our April 19 Joint House/Senate Redistricting Committee hearing,” Butler (R-Springfield) said at a recent news conference on the subject posted to YouTube. “We have yet to hear from the governor’s office, and I believe we’ve had 20 hearings in the House. He needs to give some direction on what his thoughts on what we think will be a partisan drawn map coming out of the General Assembly this spring.”

Butler said it’s clear what voters want to happen.

“The overwhelming message we’ve heard from all these hearings is that people want an open, transparent and citizen-led process to draw maps for the next 10 years,” he said. “It has been groups from across the spectrum that has said the same thing.”

Like a growing number of Republican lawmakers, Butler points to the People’s Independent Maps Act GOP lawmakers proposed as a ready-made solution to make the process a fairer one.

With U.S. Census Bureau officials saying that the data provided as part of the redistricting process won’t be available before a June 30 deadline, the debate over the best way to complete the once-in-every-decade task seems to grow more intense by the day.

The People’s Independent Maps Act would remove lawmakers from the job of redrawing maps and give the state Supreme Court the power to appoint 16 independent citizen commissioners to a redistricting commission within 30 days of passage.

“For political insiders to draw maps behind closed doors, I don’t believe the majority is going to allow people to have a say of what the lines should be,” Butler added. “It’s time for the governor to speak. We should pass this legislation, and we should set up a commission.”