JB Pritzker, Redistricting, and the Illinois Way

In the 2018 campaign, then-candidate JB Pritzker said he supported an amendment to the Illinois constitution to have state legislative redistricting done by an independent commission.  If an amendment wasn’t adopted, he said the legislature should set up an independent commission, and he pledged he would veto any maps “drafted or created by legislators, political party leaders and/or their staffs or allies.”

Governor Pritzker first broke his pledge earlier this year when he approved redistricting maps passed by Springfield Democrats for state legislative districts.  Now, I am sure, he is set to break his promise again on the Congressional remap drawn up by Democratic “legislators, political party leaders and/or their staffs”.¹

Governor Pritzker, of course, claims he hasn’t really lied, even though he did the opposite of what he promised in 2018.  It was just that things changed, Republicans wouldn’t cooperate, and blah, blah, blah.

And yet, Governor Pritzker was surprised, last November, when voters voted down his constitutional amendment to allow a graduated income tax.  After all, he promised only three percent of taxpayers would pay more taxes.  Everybody else would pay the same or less, he promised.

Except the voters suspected Governor Pritzker’s promises on his graduated state income tax would turn out pretty much like his promises on redistricting have turned out.  It is, after all, the Illinois way.
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¹ The proposed map, which you can see here, would do Elbridge Gerry proud.

UPDATE (5/19/21 5:20 pm): A somewhat edited version of this post was published in the"Voice of the People" in the Chicago Tribune here.