Springfield, IL…The Illinois House of Representatives passed newly revised legislative maps Tuesday evening. State Representative David Friess (R-Red Bud) offered the following statement condemning the process by which these maps were drawn:
“The process we saw play out over the weekend and on Tuesday evening is a prime example of why the public has lost trust in their government and their elected officials. The scheduled hearings were disingenuous shams that were hastily thrown together with little to no notice given for advocacy groups and the public to prepare.
“And now tonight, we watched as members of the majority party chose to vote for their own interests over the interests of their constituents. They chose to ignore the will of the people and instead vote to increase their own political power. Again, these maps violate the U.S. Constitution, federal law, and comparable provisions of the Illinois Constitution. This is purely the result of a partisan process where politicians draw maps. Instead, this process must be left to an independent commission where the people truly have the power and ability to choose their elected officials and not the other way around.”