Peoria Standard

As Republican spokesperson of the House Redistricting Committee, Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) has just one question for Democrats following their recent release of redrawn legislative maps.

“Where’s the data, Democrats,” Butler asked in a video posted to YouTube. “Every committee hearing that we’ve had in the House, whoever has chaired the meeting has said the exact same thing. House Democrats are dedicated to transparency and public participation in the redistricting process. What has happened over last several days is the opposite of transparency.”

Butler isn’t alone among Republican lawmakers insisting that everything Democrats have done since the once-every-decade process has commenced has been designed to keep them in power.

“They released these maps without any data, knowing that American Community Survey data is not the data needed to draw the new boundaries for legislative maps,” he said. “We need Census data that won’t be out until the end of August. Frankly, these maps make a joke of the redistricting process and are a slap in the face to Republicans who have been demanding fairness and openness to this process.”

Butler is joining his Republican colleagues in demanding that Gov. J.B. Pritzker stand by his word in vetoing the maps.

As a gubernatorial candidate, Pritzker vowed to veto legislative maps drawn by politicians or their staffers. 

“The governor has made numerous commitments about the remap process in Illinois,” Butler said during a recent press conference at the Capitol. "He said he would veto a partisan-drawn map; he said he respects a fair process; he said he wants a redistricting commission. None of that has happened on his watch.”