Mike Madigan wins court battle against referendums The $3 million attempt to change the way Illinois redraws legislative district boundaries ended Friday, marking a big victory for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and his state Democratic Party. With heavy financial support from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and some of the richest people in Illinois, the Yes for Independent Maps group had hoped to create a new process for devising Illinois legislative maps after each census. In doing so, they took aim at a key lever that Madigan — the longtime state Democratic boss from the Southwest Side — has used to perpetuate and enhance his partys control over the state Capitol. But a Cook County judge ruled Friday in favor of a lawsuit filed by Madigans lawyer, saying it was unconstitutional for ballot initiatives on redistricting reform as well as term limits to go before the states voters in November. Proponents of term limits — led by Bruce Rauner, the Republican nominee for governor in the November election — promised to appeal Cook County Judge Mary Mikvas ruling. A few hours after the judge released her decision, though, Yes for Independent Maps issued a statement announcing that it had halted its campaign. The group had reported receiving nearly $3 million in campaign contributions, according to a Chicago Sun-Times review of state records. There was a $500,000 contribution from Bloomberg in March and large amounts from many well-known business leaders in the state, including Kenneth and Anne Griffin ($350,000), Lester Crown ($105,000), former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ($100,000), Joe Mansueto ($100,000), Sam Zell ($100,000), J.B. Pritzker ($50,000) and Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts ($50,000). Longtime Madigan lawyer Michael Kasper filed the lawsuit to block the two ballot initiatives, which the speaker had derided as all Republican politics. Rauner is the chairman of the Term Limits and Reform group behind the effort to restrict the tenures of state legislators. That groups executive director, Mark Campbell, said Mikvas ruling was a victory for the entrenched special interests and a setback for the people of Illinois. But Campbell said the group plans to appeal Mikvas ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court. Weve always known that term-limits opponents would use the courts to try to protect the failed status quo, he said in a statement. We are confident we will prevail . . . and the peoples voices will be heard in November. Gov. Pat Quinns campaign aides said he has strongly supported term limits for decades but the governor blamed Rauner for pushing a poorly drafted, election-year proposal that had harmed the cause. The proposal would limit state lawmakers to eight years in Springfield, as well as making other changes, such as raising the bar for overriding a veto from the governor. In her 11-page ruling Friday, Mikva ruled that the ballot initiatives were not valid under the Illinois Constitution. The judges father is Abner Mikva, the former Democratic congressman, federal judge and White House counsel to President Bill Clinton. Any term limits initiative appears to be outside of what is permissible, wrote Mikva, who has been on the bench since 2004. She was not as critical of the effort to change how Illinois redraws legislative districts. A differently drafted redistricting initiative could be valid, Mikva wrote. At the time of the ruling, there also was a dispute over whether Yes for Independent Maps had gathered enough valid petition signatures to put the issue on the ballot. Although touted as a grassroots movement, the campaign spent at least $1.2 million on a Portland, Ore., firm that employed paid petition passers to gather the necessary signatures. And even before the ruling, there appears to have been internal strife at the campaign that was headquarted in the West Loop. Michael Kolenc, the executive director, said on Twitter on Friday that he had separated from Yes for Independent Maps on Wednesday and would have no further comment. The groups chairwoman, Deborah Harrington, said the cause could be taken up again in the 2016 or 2018 elections. We have concluded that we are not going to proceed in this election cycle, she said. This experience will make us better prepared to win the next campaign to give voters an opportunity to have a voice in the redistricting process. The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit filed against the ballot initiatives is Frank Clark, the retired CEO of Commonwealth Edison. The other plaintiffs are a whos who of black, Latino and Asians with close ties to the local powers that be, including the Rev. Leon Finney and Craig Chico, brother of Illinois State Board of Education Chairman Gery Chico. Their lawyer, Kasper, said Friday: Were gratified that the judge agreed with our arguments. If [proponents of the ballot initiatives] appeal, well certainly defend our position. Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said Mikvas ruling was in line with prior, similar cases.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 19:49:17 +0000
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