Peoria Standard

The Mike Madigan playbook is once again being used at the assembly, said Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) after Democrats dropped their legislative maps on a Friday night.

Spain alleged that the “culture of corruption” continues.

“If you’re sick about hearing the Mike Madigan playbook, I am too!” he said. I’m really sick of it! And I thought that things would be better when new leadership and a new speaker was elected in the Illinois House of Representatives. But unfortunately, it’s not. This is the same playbook being executed again and again, to make sure that voters do not have the opportunity to be involved with how their government is designed and how it should work.”

He recounted how many people approved of a change in the remapping process.

“In 2016 remember, we had nearly 600,000 Illinois voters sign a petition demanding that we would consider redistricting reform throughout the state,” Spain said. “This measure was thrown out by Madigan’s favorite judge on the Supreme Court, Tom Kilbride, after a Commonwealth Edison executive brought the suit to the Supreme Court. This was John Hooker, who is now one of the four individuals involved with ongoing activities with the Justice Department and the corruption case regarding 'Public Official A,' Mike Madigan. So, the culture of corruption continues.”

He asserted that it was all planned.

“As we saw last week, the best chance for success is to drop a map late in the evening on Friday night, and hope that the general public is not paying attention,” he said in a May 24 news conference. “But I want everyone to know, this is many, many, many years in the making. Not just a Friday night news dump, but a carefully orchestrated campaign to make sure that all voters in the state of Illinois are denied the opportunity to be involved in building a better government and solving problems.”

While the constitution provides that redistricting plans be available by June 30, it also requires that this will be done using federal census data, which may not be on hand until possibly August. The GOP alleged that the Democrats used the American Community Survey in drawing their maps.

Additionally, an eight-person bipartisan commission will take over if the maps will not be available by June 30. If this option fails, a ninth member would be required to be randomly selected by the Illinois secretary of state. The new nine-member panel has until Oct. 5 to present new redistricting plans.