Kankakee Times

State Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) recently took the Senate floor to call on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to live up to his campaign promise to veto partisan-drawn legislative maps.

He reminded the governor of his pledge to not succumb to machine politics.

"Gov. Pritzker, in 2018, you rode into office on a message of reform," Barickman said. "Many voters around the state cast a vote for you because they believed that our state was plagued with a history of dysfunction. You told them how you would be different, you told them how you were not a part of the machine politics that have plagued the state of Illinois for too many generations"

Barickman further reminded Pritzker of his promise to the voters to veto partisan-drawn legislative maps.

“You said ‘I promise you the voters’ that you would veto this legislation drawn by politicians protecting the partisans protecting the status quo,” Barickman said. “You governor, you promised the voters that you would take your pen and you would veto this piece of legislation.”

Barickman closed his speech by making one last effort to be heard.

"Governor, keep your promise to do the right thing and help the people of Illinois believe again in our state government,” he urged Pritzker. “Governor, veto this map and this shameful process by which it was produced."

Barickman is among the many Republican leaders in the Illinois General Assembly who have voiced opposition to the Democratic-drawn district boundaries. They called for an independent commission to draw legislative maps.

But ‘Pritzker refused to hear the voice of people telling him this was a bad idea and this is a bad map,” Minority House Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) said after the governor signed the maps.

The drawing of new legislative districts happens once every ten years as stated by the constitution to meet changing district population based on the most recent census data.