Shades of old Soviet Union on Illinois ballot
Democracy may not be dead in Illinois, but it sure is circling the drain. It’s the dirty little secret of the Illinois General Assembly; most members aren’t so much elected as anointed.
Only about 40 percent of candidates actually face an opponent when they run for office.
Illinois sort of functions like the old Soviet Union— candidates appear on the ballot unopposed— and the “voters” are expected to endorse them during the “election.”
Doesn’t sound like much of an election, does it?
So how did we get in this predicament?
The majority party in the General Assembly has gerrymandered legislative districts in a manner designed to ensure it’s continued control.
That’s part of the reason why the Democratic Party has a supermajority status in both the state House and Senate.
Politicians distort and stretch their districts into strange shapes for two reasons: To get more seats for their political party and to get re-elected without having to run a substantial campaign.
Potential candidates don’t run because they look at how district has been drawn and know they can’t possibly win.
Since political parties recruit candidates and help fund their campaigns, party bosses, like House Speaker Mike Madigan, have a big say in who is fielded.
Using sophisticated computer programs, Madigan and his cohorts have drawn the House districts to protect incumbent Democrats.
And while Madigan is the master of this dark craft, to be fair Illinois Republicans have a history of engaging in this behavior as well.
Instead of voters picking legis- lators, we have legislators picking voters. So just how bad is it in Illinois? According to Ballotpedia. com, in 2014, only 39 percent of all Illinois legislative candidates faced an opponent in the general election.
That means more than 60 percent of the time, voters don’t have a choice on who to vote for. How does Illinois stack up? Well, Michigan rated 100 percent in contested races, with every 2014 legislative district fielding at least two major-party candidates. And California and Minnesota had competitive races in more than 90 percent of their legislative districts.
Illinois, on the other hand, ranked in the bottom fifth for competitiveness.
Petitions are being passed to place a measure on the ballot that would amend the state constitution and have an independent commission draw legislative boundaries.
Also, Gov. Bruce Rauner is pushing for the General Assembly to vote for a similar measure.
In fact, he says redistricting reform is so critical that he won’t consider a budget compromise until lawmakers vote on such a measure.
But legislators don’t like competition. They want to keep things the way they are— with Soviet style elections.
After all. They value their job security.