Kankakee Times

Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) questioned the Democrats' process in creating their recently released legislative maps, which he dubbed anti-democratic.

At a May 25 news conference, he also challenged the Democrats to answer questions and the governor to fulfill his campaign pledge.

“The question to Democrats is why are you hiding from the public?” Barickman asked. “Why not show up and answer the questions that are being asked of you? Something clearly has to give here. I join with my colleagues and calling on the governor, the governor campaigned as a reformer. He said: 'I’m going to change the system, I'm going to do what my predecessors haven't done, I promise to you that I'll veto a map put forward by politicians.' Governor here's your chance, keep your word.”

Barickman said the Democrats are ignoring the pleas from witnesses for transparency and inclusion made at multiple redistricting hearings.

“Those witnesses … said don't rely on inaccurate data,” Barickman recounted. “Don’t rely on exactly that type of data which the Democrats are evidently doing now. These ... were the Democrats' own witnesses who came forward and said don't do exactly what the Democrats have done. The data's flawed, the process is a sham. We learned through this that the Democrats had a secret room where individual lawmakers were going into a room drawing their districts and picking their voters.”

As he continued to slam the Democrats' move, Barickman also emphasized the impact of this once-a-decade process and decision.

“This is the epitome of a backroom deal and what's at risk is the ability for Illinoisans to be represented and empowered in their government,” he said. “This is fundamentally important stuff for the people whom we all represent, the roughly 13 million Illinoisans who deserve a process that is foundational to how our government operates and exists. What we've seen thus far has been anti-democratic and anti-American. It's unbelievable what the Democrat majority has done through this sham process.”

Barickman and state Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) previously penned a letter to the governor requesting that Pritzker or a high-level member of his office testify before the April 19 joint House and Senate Redistricting Committee hearing. But nobody appeared during the hearing.

When he was running for governor, Pritzker pledged to veto a redistricting map crafted by any politicians. He recently said he would take a look at the map that will come from the legislature.