With the near-constant corruption charges and trials in Illinois ensnaring government officials at all levels, it’s perhaps understandable that we become inured to it all. We’re the frogs, ever so slowly and obliviously, boiling in a pot of water. It’s time we hop out of the pot and pay heed.

The recent federal corruption trials of the “ComEd Four” and Tim Mapes, former chief of staff to ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, have provided every Illinoisan with a behind-the-curtain peek at how our government and elections are being manipulated and controlled in unethical ways.

The release of transcripts of Mapes’ testimony before a grand jury, and of wiretapped recordings between him and Madigan friend and former lobbyist Mike McClain, reveal all manner of ways in which everyone was about protecting Madigan and preserving his and his party’s control.

Speaking about a former colleague who might have urged his own abrupt firing after decades of service, Mapes told McClain in one call: “Uh, he’s protecting the boss. Now he views that as his mission. That is part of the mission.”

It was part of the mission for Madigan’s inner circle and for former Commonwealth Edison officials who went to extreme lengths to ensure our elections were not fair or aboveboard. They made sure the drawing of districts, which set the table for our elections and the rest of our government, could continue to be done behind closed doors to the advantage of the majority political party.

As far back as 2014, Madigan lawyer Mike Kasper intervened in a hearing concerning the validation of scores of signatures collected to try to get a question on ballots statewide, asking voters if they wanted a non-political group of residents drawing districts for elections. He registered as an opponent of that effort with the state elections board and said his client was the “Committee to Protect the Illinois Constitution.”

In 2015 and beyond, Kasper, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former ComEd CEO Frank Clark went so far as to create a group that opposed independent redistricting efforts and sent official-looking letters and political ad mailers throughout Illinois, wrongly suggesting that having non-politicians draw maps was going to suppress minority voting rights. 

In fact, in California’s first use of an independent commission, the resulting election produced six more Latino assembly seats, one new Asian assembly seat, one additional Latino Senate seat and one added Latino congressional district. The number of Latino officials doubled overall, and there were nine more total opportunities for minority voters in California to select representatives of their choosing than existed when politicians drew the boundaries.

And, in fact, after the most recent redistricting in Illinois, it was Black and Latino groups who sued, unsuccessfully, because they believed the map drawers diluted their representation rights. As noted by the Brennan Center for Justice, “Black-led organizations allege the state house map cracks the Black community of the East St. Louis area into two state house districts to dilute its voting strength and shore up white Democratic incumbents. Suits by Latino voters allege that the maps drawn by Democrats intentionally perpetuate a long history of discrimination against Latino voters by packing and cracking them, which in turn dilutes their political power.” 

If you’re inclined to think ComEd officials were sending these mailers for aboveboard reasons, think harder. Beginning on Page 49 of the Mapes grand jury transcript, federal prosecutors note that Kasper, Hooker and Clark sued to stop an independent redistricting commission from getting before voters, and, Mapes testified, “there may have been a phone call or two” that representatives and Madigan might have been listening in on where Hooker described what he was doing to thwart removing politicians from controlling how districts are drawn.

Drawing districts is where it all begins. Other than donations, few things are more valuable to Madigan, or whatever politician is running a caucus, than controlling how districts are drawn.

Why should you care? When politicians draw districts, it helps determine whether you have real choices when you vote. In the 2022 general election following redistricting, where maps were again drawn behind locked doors, 31 out of 59 Illinois Senate seats had only one candidate running. Nearly 53 percent of the districts had no competition. 

When politicians draw districts and pick their own voters, they don’t have to be responsive to what you want because they already know they’re quite likely to win re-election. They don’t necessarily have to act on the things worrying you, whether what’s worrying you is violence, quality schools, affordable taxes or safe and convenient public transportation.

This democracy is ours and it’s up to each of us to keep pushing to make sure it’s fair and working for us. These corruption trials show us it’s not. Let’s recommit now to working to make our elections more competitive and fairer for us all.

This article was published on August 24, 2023, in Crain’s Chicago Business.