Month: August 2021

Today, Politico did a great job outlining the team of Madigan loyalists and lawyers generally unknown to the public that are representing Democrat leaders – House Speaker Chris Welch and Senate President Don Harmon – in their fight to preserve their politician-drawn redistricting map.

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Shia Kapos at Politico…

“The legal team representing the Democratic-led General Assembly on the remap includes attorneys who have for years worked for the former House speaker.”

“Michael Kasper, the noted election lawyer and former general counsel to Madigan when he was speaker, is heading up the legal team.

“Other attorneys are Heather Wier Vaught, who was chief counsel to Madigan and represented him when his team was accused of ignoring sexual harassment claims. Adam Vaught, her husband, is also on the General Assembly’s legal team and has represented Madigan, too, including when the former speaker was sued for allegedly orchestrating sham political candidates. And Devon Bruce is with the well-connected Power Rogers law firm, which has donated to Madigan’s campaign fund.”

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Madigan’s team has a long history of using the legal system to keep their leader’s iron-grip on power. Kasper was lead counsel and argued before the Illinois Supreme Court to strike down the 2016 Fair Maps citizen referendum. The 4-3 majority decision was written by Madigan’s Favorite Judge, Tom Kilbride, who Madigan spent millions to put on the Supreme Court, and the plaintiff in the case was John Hooker, former ComEd lobbyist who was indicted last November in the ongoing federal corruption probe.

The Madigan Machine is not dead – it’s leader is simply within the shadows. Why else would Mike Madigan’s top lawyers and longtime friends be the lead litigators for the House and Senate remap team? They’re protecting their investment as they’ve done for years.

ILGOP Spokesman Joe Hackler: “There could be  a world where Mike Madigan and his remaining lieutenants do not infect every part of state government with their corrupt tentacles. But Illinois Democrats don’t want that world. Democrats are still loyal to the man who brought them into power and the people of Illinois suffer the consequences every day.”

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Late last week the US Census Bureau released their official numbers from the 2020 decennial census, which revealed Illinois Democrat’s partisan politician-drawn map to be in violation of federal law and provisions within the Illinois State Constitution. Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy released the following statement in response:

“Illinois Democrats forged ahead with a nakedly partisan and unethical process of politicians drawing their own districts behind closed doors in the face of repeated pleas from good government reformers and community groups to wait until the official census numbers were released. Democrats refused. Now the courts have no option but to strike down this wildly unconstitutional amatuer artwork presentation masquerading as a lawful legislative map. It’s time for the bi-partisan map-making process to take over.”

According to an analysis done by the House and Senate Republican caucuses, “[t]he Democrats’ proposed House districts have population counts ranging from 92,390 (District 83) to 124,836 (District 5)—a difference of 32,446. Based on a test directed by the U.S. Supreme Court, that difference represents a total population range of 29.88 percent, which is three times the maximum range allowed by federal law. Because the Democrats’ plan unequivocally violates federal law, it is and will be declared void.”

Republican Leaders have asked the federal court to declare H.B. 2777 (legislative map) void, meaning it was never of any force or effect. The Illinois Republican Party joined the Republican caucuses map lawsuit on July 27, 2021.

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