Here’s an enjoyable peice by a Friend of McHenry County Blog:
Reward for whistleblowers who find crayons
You hear a few pundits and politicians pointing out that when Governor JB Pritzker referred to “kindergarteners with crayons” he was talking about the state legislature, but further examination shows that the class of “kindergarteners” is larger than that.
We know for a fact Illinois’ Democratic supermajority state legislature which Pritzker threw under the bus on Stephen Colbert’s TV show by calling them “kindergarteners with crayons” did not act alone in drawing congressional maps.
For example, we know Congressman Sean Casten acted to get freshman Congresswoman Marie Newman placed outside of his district.
They were initially set to be in the same district.
Casten was upset by that.
He intervened and got it changed. This Politico article has more details.
After getting Newman placed outside of his district and stuck within Jesús “Chuy” Garcia’s district, Newman decided to challenge Casten anyway.
Between being heavily outspent and an ethics violation, which was later dismissed, Newman lost the primary.
She now writes anti-bullying books.
(Sidenote but interesting factoid: In 2021, when Chuck Schumer was Senate Majority Leader and Democrats controlled the House, Senate, and White House, he proposed the “Redistricting Reform Act of 2021.” Schumer’s bill died. It had zero cosponsors.)
It might be more than just Casten who pressured the state legislature.
Did Lauren Underwood or Bill Foster get involved?
We know Pritzker spent about two million dollars of his own money to elect Democrats to the Illinois Supreme Court.
A total of 9.6 million was spent on those races, so Pritzker alone was responsible for over 20 percent of the total spending.
How’s that for oligarchy?
This followed a judicial gerrymander that sought (successfully) to increase the Democratic majority on the state’s high court from 4-3 to 5-2.
The districts had been in place since 1964 but there was partisan concern that the three Republican judges could get a Democrat “swing” vote and rule against Pritzker on a key issue.
The Illinois Supreme Court is the final arbiter on many issues including laws and executive orders that Pritzker signed, and other complaints against him.
It may be that Pritzker did not simply acquiesce to the state legislators’ gerrymandered maps but that he himself had a more active role in redrawing legislative, congressional, and judicial maps. It wouldn’t be surprising if Pritzker, who has long had national political aspirations, was himself one of the kindergarteners with crayons.
Now comes offer of a “reward” for whistleblowers with proof that Pritzker was involved.
Reward For Whistleblowers Who Come Forward Against JB Pritzker
You saw Pritzker on Colbert throwing the Democrat supermajority state legislature under the bus by calling them kindergarteners with crayons. He was trying to use humor as a coping mechanism to distract from the fact that it was he who approved that map after promising not to.
Pritzker’s statement wherein he called Democratic legislators “kindergarteners” implies his office had little to do with the map making process; however, some people suspect that Pritzker’s office did not have such a passive role…
Any person with proof that Pritzker’s office coordinated with the legislators who drew the maps should come forward.
The reward is not made known.
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And, of course, we know Democratic Party State Rep. Sue Ness convinced the mapmakers to draw Carolyn Schofield out of her legislative district.
The result is that southwestern Crystal Lake is now represented by Jeff Keicher of Sycamore.
