Kankakee Times

State Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) told the Pontiac Daily Leader that he sees the proposed legislative maps as "a pile of trash."

“I was the Republican point person for redistricting, which has been a multi-month process that I think has rightfully left the public woefully dissatisfied,” the senator said. “It's the same old, same old – politicians drawing maps. The majority party is prioritizing their partisan gain at the expense  of voters."

He blamed partisanship for the problems.

Democratic members of the legislature were in a closed room with members of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's staff planning what districts would look like, the senator said.

“It's the old adage of a smoke-filled room protecting the interests of the incumbents at the expense of the public,” Barickman told the Daily Leader. “They know in this day and age, redistricting can be done in a much more independent manner … at least an independent process that doesn't have politicians picking voters and drawing districts to serve their partisan interests."

The senator expects the proposed new maps to be be coming out soon, with voting in a couple of weeks.

“I'm expecting a pile of trash to be dumped on our desks and to vote against the shameful product that it is,” he told the news outlet.

In July, Barickman accused Pritzker of breaking a promise to voters during the gubernatorial campaign.

"Gov. Pritzker, in 2018, you rode into office on a message of reform," Barickman said on the Senate floor. "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."