Big Money Behind Push For 'Fair Map' In Illinois
From the Chicago Tribune
For the past two years, a well-funded and largely below-the-radar effort has been playing out across Illinois aimed at trying to curb the influence of politicians in perhaps the most political of all games: the once-a-decade redrawing of the state House and Senate districts.
So far, a diverse and bipartisan coalition pushing the effort has received more than $2.5 million in contributions as it tries to get a question before voters this fall asking to switch to a more independent way to craft the boundaries. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently gave $500,000. Venture capitalists Kenneth and Anne Dias-Griffin have kicked in $250,000. Members of the Crown family of industrialists have tossed in another $100,000.
That money has been used to create field offices, help pay for petition passers and to amass a defense fund for a possible legal challenge to the effort to get the redistricting change proposal before voters.
It takes about 300,000 valid petition signatures to get on the Nov. 4 ballot. On Tuesday, the Yes for Independent Maps group said it has gathered 346,759 signatures, but hopes to collect between 450,000 and 500,000 signatures by April 18. Some signatures could be found invalid, so it helps to have a cushion.
At stake is the process political parties use to reshape the 59 Senate and 118 House districts following each census — not only to reflect changes in population but more so to maximize political numbers in the House and Senate while weakening the opposing party.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Tribune
For the past two years, a well-funded and largely below-the-radar effort has been playing out across Illinois aimed at trying to curb the influence of politicians in perhaps the most political of all games: the once-a-decade redrawing of the state House and Senate districts.
So far, a diverse and bipartisan coalition pushing the effort has received more than $2.5 million in contributions as it tries to get a question before voters this fall asking to switch to a more independent way to craft the boundaries. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently gave $500,000. Venture capitalists Kenneth and Anne Dias-Griffin have kicked in $250,000. Members of the Crown family of industrialists have tossed in another $100,000.
That money has been used to create field offices, help pay for petition passers and to amass a defense fund for a possible legal challenge to the effort to get the redistricting change proposal before voters.
It takes about 300,000 valid petition signatures to get on the Nov. 4 ballot. On Tuesday, the Yes for Independent Maps group said it has gathered 346,759 signatures, but hopes to collect between 450,000 and 500,000 signatures by April 18. Some signatures could be found invalid, so it helps to have a cushion.
At stake is the process political parties use to reshape the 59 Senate and 118 House districts following each census — not only to reflect changes in population but more so to maximize political numbers in the House and Senate while weakening the opposing party.
Read more in our daily News Update...