Metro East Sun

State Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) joined other Republican lawmakers at a May 25 news conference following the release of the legislative maps drawn by the Democrats.

The path chosen by the Democrats in drawing the maps, according to him, was ridiculous.

“The lack of transparency demonstrated by the Democrats in this process at this point is laughable,” McClure said. “These hearings are supposed to provide for at least a minimum of questions and answers relating to the most basic map-making information, and yet we have received very few answers from the majority party at these hearings.”

He recalled that during the Redistricting Committee hearings, advocacy groups sought fair representation.

“For example, the public media and our committee members are still in the dark as to precisely what data was used to draw the maps groups. From the NAACP to the League of Women Voters, (they) specifically asked the legislature to wait for the actual Census Data. They made it clear that using the wrong data (would) leave communities and groups underrepresented,” McClure continued. “The majority party has avoided being accessible to their constituents right now in a way that we have never seen before which is truly a shame for the people they represent. It is my hope that they will show up in a room in front of the press today and present their map. But until then, here we are with the Democratic majority who refuses to answer to the people and a governor who refuses to answer whether he will keep his promise and veto this partisan-drawn map."

“Gov. Pritzker has a choice,” the Springfield senator said. “All he has to do is exactly what he promised the voters as a candidate, which is to veto this partisan map.”