1 1 2 3 SENATE REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 15 16 17 18 19 May 2, 2011 20 21 22 Reported by: Mindi B. Lenhardt, CSR #084-003621 23 24 25 2 1 SENATE REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE 2 3 BE IT REMEMBERED that the above-entitled matter 4 came for hearing at the Alton Village Hall, 101 E. 5 Third Street, Alton, Illinois 62002, between the 6 hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. of that day, 7 (reported proceedings beginning approximately 12:30 8 p.m., and concluding at approximately 1:00) before 9 the Illinois State Senate, pursuant to due notice to 10 all parties in interest, and the following is a 11 transcript of proceedings had during the course of 12 said hearing regarding Redistricting in the State of 13 Illinois. 14 15 DISCLAIMER: The transcripts produced will 16 be the property of the Illinois State Senate and 17 will be made available to the public through the 18 Illinois General Assembly website after approval by 19 the members of the Illinois State Senate 20 Redistricting Committee. Any reproduction or 21 redistribution of this material in electronic or 22 written form is expressly prohibited by law. 23 24 25 3 1 Appearing: 2 WILLIAM HAINE, Senator 3 DON HARMON, Senator 4 DAVID LUECHTEFELD, Senator 5 EDWARD MALONEY, Senator 6 WILLIAM SAM MCCANN, Senator 7 KWAME RAOUL, Senator 8 9 GIOVANNI RANDAZZO, Clerk, Deputy Legal Counsel 10 11 Also present were: 12 PHIL LUETKEHANS, Attorney 13 PHIL DRAVES, RAY WATT, Senate Republican staff 14 MIKE MCCORMICK, Mayor of Godfrey 15 RAYMOND D. MUNIZ, Mayor of St. Jacob 16 17 ---------------------------------------------------- 18 * * * 19 I N D E X 20 WITNESS PAGE: 21 NORA WHIPPLE 12 22 23 24 25 4 1 * * * 2 SENATOR HARMON: The Senate Redistricting 3 Committee will please come to order. Will the clerk 4 please call the roll? Before you call the roll, I 5 do have a letter from the Senate Republican leader 6 appointing Senator Dave Luechtefeld to serve as 7 minority spokesman today and Senator Sam McCann to 8 be a member of the Committee. 9 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Righter. 10 (No response) 11 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Murphy. 12 (No response) 13 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator McCann. 14 SENATOR MCCANN: Here. 15 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Duffy. 16 (No response) 17 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Cultra. 18 (No response) 19 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Luechtefeld. 20 SENATOR LUECHTEFELD: Here. 21 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Martinez. 22 (No response) 23 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Maloney. 24 SENATOR MALONEY: Here. 25 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Lightford. 5 1 (No response) 2 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Koehler. 3 (No response) 4 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Emil Jones the 5 Third. 6 (No response) 7 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Hunter. 8 (No response) 9 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Haine. 10 SENATOR HAINE: Here. 11 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Collins. 12 (No response) 13 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Noland. 14 (No response) 15 MR. RANDAZZO: Senator Harmon. 16 SENATOR HARMON: Here. 17 MR. RANDAZZO: Chairman Raoul. 18 (No response) 19 SENATOR HARMON: We have a sufficient 20 number of members present to take testimony on the 21 subject matter of Redistricting. I'm Senator Don 22 Harmon. I've stolen the gavel from Senator Kwame 23 Raoul, who is still in transit from Chicago and 24 should be here shortly, but we wanted to be as 25 respectful as we could of all of your time, since 6 1 we've already kept you waiting a half an hour on 2 standard Springfield time, but we do want to get 3 started. He should be with us shortly, but we 4 wanted to make sure we got the ball rolling, got 5 folks on the roll. 6 Senator McCann, I understand that you 7 have a family emergency to attend to and will be 8 having to leave shortly. 9 SENATOR MCCANN: I certainly will, and I 10 appreciate the accommodating me. Thank you. 11 SENATOR HARMON: Did you have any remarks 12 that you wanted to make? 13 SENATOR MCCANN: I just wanted to 14 introduce myself. Sam McCann, Senator from the 49th 15 District, just north of here. We come down as far 16 as into Godfrey. It's a pleasure to be here today, 17 and thank you for allowing me to sit in. 18 SENATOR HARMON: Thanks. We hope all 19 will be well with the family. 20 SENATOR MCCANN: Thank you. 21 SENATOR HARMON: Senator Luechtefeld, did 22 you have any remarks to make? 23 SENATOR LUECHTEFELD: I've been asked by 24 the minority leader of the House and the Senate to 25 make this announcement. In the effort to bring 7 1 greater transparency to the legislative 2 redistricting process, minority leader Tom Cross and 3 minority leader Christine Radogno are opening the 4 map drawing room at the Thompson Center to the 5 public Monday through Friday from 8:30 -- from 8:30 6 a.m. until noon, or by appointment. The telephone 7 number, I will give you, is 312-814-2053. Anyone 8 else interested, see me after this meeting. Thank 9 you. 10 SENATOR HARMON: I also certainly want to 11 recognize Senator Haine as our host today. Thank 12 you for accommodating us and having lunch for us. 13 It was -- I forgot I should ask Senator Maloney if 14 he has any motions to make before we turn to the 15 business. Senator Maloney? 16 SENATOR MALONEY: Thank you, 17 Mr. Chairman. I notice that we once again have a 18 court reporter present, and I move that this hearing 19 be transcribed by the court reporter, so that the 20 Committee can have a full transcript of this hearing 21 in which the Committee can approve at a future 22 hearing, once members and the staff have time to 23 review the transcript and make any needed 24 corrections. 25 SENATOR HARMON: Senator Maloney has 8 1 moved, seconded by Senator Haine. All in favor say 2 aye; opposed, nay. The ayes have it, and the motion 3 carries. Senator Maloney? 4 SENATOR MALONEY: Thank you. I would 5 also like to make a motion, Mr. Chairman -- In 6 keeping with the precedent, I would like to make a 7 motion to allow everyone in attendance today the 8 option to take photos as long as they don't 9 interrupt the proceedings. 10 SENATOR HARMON: Senator Maloney has 11 moved, seconded by Senator Haine. All in favor say 12 aye, and opposed nay. The ayes have it and the 13 motion carries. 14 SENATOR MALONEY: And finally, I would 15 like to make a motion that allow any media present 16 to take still photos and record them. 17 SENATOR HARMON: Senator Maloney moves. 18 Senator Haine seconds. All in favor say aye; 19 opposed nay. They ayes have it and that motion, too 20 carries. Thank you, Senator Maloney. Senator 21 Haine, again, thank you for hosting us here. Did 22 you have any remarks to make? 23 SENATOR HAINE: I feel especially honored 24 to be here. My late father served as alderman in 25 this city for many years, so I'm pleased to be here 9 1 in a special way. He's -- People for years assumed 2 I was him when my name was on the ballot. That's 3 why I was able to win. 4 SENATOR HARMON: The unofficial historian 5 of the Senate, glad to be on your own turf. We hope 6 we'll get a few more history lessons along the way 7 during the hearings. 8 SENATOR HAINE: It's a very historic town 9 you will find, Senator. 10 SENATOR HARMON: Senator Maloney, did you 11 have any opening remarks you wish to make? 12 SENATOR MALONEY: No, thank you, 13 Mr. Chairman. Just delighted to be in the other 14 part of the world here. Let's get it out of the 15 way. I'm a south side Chicago Democrat. So 16 hopefully with Senator Haine, I don't need a police 17 escort out to leave town here. 18 SENATOR HAINE: You are for the Cubs. 19 SENATOR HARMON: So you're all rooting 20 for a White Sox/Cardinals World Series so you're on 21 safe footing. 22 I will do my best to fill in for Senator 23 Raoul with the remarks. This is the last of the 24 scheduled hearings of the Senate Redistricting 25 Committee. We've already been to 12 communities 10 1 across the state this year, which follows on a slew 2 of hearings across the State over the past two years 3 in the last General Assembly. In addition, with the 4 House hearings that have been held across the State, 5 we're approaching 30 hearings across the State, 6 taking testimony from members of different 7 communities as to their ideas and goals for the 8 redistricting process that we do once every ten 9 years after the census is taken, and we have a new 10 sense of where folks live in Illinois. 11 We had hearings in Chicago twice and 12 Springfield four times, Peoria and Carbondale in the 13 last General Assembly. This year, we have met both 14 in downtown Chicago and on Chicago's west side, in 15 the greater Chicago land area, Kankakee, Cicero, 16 Elmhurst, Yorkville, University Park and Streamwood. 17 We met in Central Illinois in Springfield, Peoria, 18 Macomb, and in Southern Illinois in Carbondale. 19 Today, we are in Alton which is in the -- 20 for our 13th hearing. We, too, have access to 21 public work stations so that folks who wish to draw 22 their own maps and experiment with the process can 23 do that. You can get information either on our 24 website at www.ilsenateredistricting.com or by 25 e-mailing us at redistricting@senatedem.ilga.gov. 11 1 The public work stations are available either on the 2 fourth floor of the Stratton building in 3 Springfield -- The phone number there is 4 217-558-3036. -- or on the seventh floor of the 5 Bilandic building in Chicago. And if you want to 6 e-mail us at redistricting@senatedem.ilga.gov, we 7 can set that up. The Senate Republicans and Senator 8 Luechtefeld said they have their station. The House 9 Republicans also have a station at the Thompson 10 Center. 11 So if you have a map in whole or in part 12 for the City of Chicago or a particular region, we 13 urge you to submit it to us today. If you do not, 14 we expect that we will have future hearings, but we 15 would also welcome those submissions by e-mail. We 16 do hope that some of you will testify today. We 17 have, I think, one witness slip thus far, but if 18 anyone wishes to testify and share with us your 19 ideas for what the new legislative maps should look 20 like, we hope that you would fill out one of these 21 forms at the front table there. We're going to -- 22 With your indulgence, we're going to stand at ease 23 just for a few moments to see if the real chairman 24 arrives before we turn to our first witness, but we 25 won't give him too much time. We won't keep you 12 1 here too long if we don't have to. Thank you very 2 much for your indulgence. 3 (Thereupon, a short recess was taken; 4 conversations off the record.) 5 SENATOR HARMON: We may turn to you for 6 some more history lessons, but Senator Raoul has 7 informed me he is in the city limits and getting 8 close. So since we have kept folks waiting, I have 9 his permission to call the first witness. I'm 10 confident that he will arrive before we conclude our 11 business, which is important to all of us that he 12 arrives. So Ms. Nora Whipple, a citizen who was 13 employed as a 2010 census taker, is here and wishes 14 to testify. Ms. Whipple, are you here and 15 available? 16 MS. WHIPPLE: I am. 17 SENATOR HARMON: Please come forward. 18 MS. WHIPPLE: Good afternoon, various 19 senators. 20 SENATOR HARMON: Good afternoon, thanks 21 for being here. 22 MS. WHIPPLE: Not a problem. The last 23 time I spoke, or actually a letter, an e-mail that 24 was placed before the NCAA was to address the issue 25 of race-based mascots which led to the retirement of 13 1 Chief Illiniwek. So I kind of understand a little 2 bit of what we're doing today. Do we need 3 redistricting? Do we not need redistricting? Why 4 for redistricting? And in conclusion, what can help 5 us to redistrict if we need to redistrict at all? 6 The reasons I feel that we do need to 7 redistrict the area is, of course, for safety 8 reasons. There are two OSHA cases that I was 9 involved with, with helping remedy situations that 10 arose out of letting the erosions of buildings, 11 their foundations being crumbly, and also the most 12 current OSHA case that I understand that I was 13 involved with closing, was to help get an elderly 14 woman out of her trailer that was roach infested and 15 infested with mice. And it is a very sad story, 16 that it took over a half a year to work with that 17 family, to see the need to get this woman to a place 18 where she can be safe. 19 And of course, we know the ramifications 20 of governmental mortgages being given to the people 21 living in areas where flooding along the levy 22 system, it's imperative that money be given. Of 23 course, we know people like to move. They like to 24 open up their homes so other people can live in 25 there, and then they revenue money that way. And 14 1 when people ignore, you know, buying insurance, home 2 insurance, renters insurance, they're actually 3 double jeopardizing themselves. 4 We need more education, better education, 5 quality education in this area. When I worked as 6 closely as I could with Congressman Jerry Costello, 7 on the issue of Venice, the Head Start there, 8 finally finalizing, yeah, we have to close that site 9 down. We're not getting the money to generate, to 10 keep that open. It opened my eyes, to see how we're 11 all connected and how we all have to work together 12 and not be afraid that one's position, you know, has 13 a whole lot of people to help. That helping has got 14 to go both ways, you know. We can revert back to a 15 little bit of history of how our nation was set up 16 as we broke away from Britain and from the tyranny 17 of George the Third, but I don't think I have to go 18 beyond much of that. 19 Going back to education, the current 20 situation at S.I.U.E., there are a lot of 21 disparities there, financial disparities. While 22 being a student there, a student employee while 23 working at the grill, there were so many health 24 violations there, that it took me over a month to 25 de-grease the place, to get the place back to where 15 1 it would be safe to serve food, to cook food in our 2 fry vats. For some reason, we can't afford at this 3 time a cleaning crew to properly clean and keep the 4 restaurants that are downstairs up to par. 5 The dental school program, within this 6 last year, had exploded with racial tensions, and 7 under representation of minority students. 8 African-Americans not being allowed, for whatever 9 reason, to attend, either by, by not encouraged to 10 attend or some political gain that has not been 11 stated yet. Maybe that's what was planned. But it 12 took some students, five students, I believe it was, 13 to dress in black face, to make the stand, the 14 statement, Please help us. You know, it's one thing 15 to have teeth, but please, let us attend and gain 16 the knowledge so that we can, in turn, help others 17 medically, dentally within our own communities. 18 There's a lot of construction work that 19 is going on at Peck Hall at S.I.U.E. That's going 20 to deplete any resources that the college has to 21 fulfill other obligations that they want to have 22 completed, such as updating housing, so that they 23 could sell those housing areas to fraternities and 24 sororities, so they can rent these apartments on 25 campus. There's -- to go ahead and renovate those, 16 1 that area for renting will cost in the hundred 2 thousands. And to get that money back is going to 3 take years upon years, because sororities and 4 fraternities have a way of dissolving and then 5 reforming. 6 They want to continue to raise teachers 7 or professor's salaries. We all know that everybody 8 who does their job and a little bit more deserves 9 raises. And there is a union -- I don't know to 10 what degree all the campus works with this union, 11 but if there is, that if the teachers do not feel 12 appreciated or the professors that is, that somehow 13 they can strike and it's going to once again lead to 14 a lot of disparity. 15 I know for some reason that the 16 university is not retaining its students to be 17 employed there as faculty members. A lot of the 18 students drop out. Stress, what have you. I can't 19 say for sure. Some of the miscellaneous, a portion 20 that retain the grades, these students graduating 21 into its faculty and staff, and others dropping out. 22 I know from using the Madison Transit 23 system myself that there are convicted drug 24 offenders that use that system, and they travel from 25 East St. Louis to Wood River to Edwardsville and 17 1 onto the campus. This semester, one of my classes, 2 we got to sit for extra credit upon the Victim 3 Impact panel, and we listened to stories. We 4 listened to the testimony of two women that could 5 not save their children from drugs and alcohol. And 6 I'm sitting here going, Why aren't these parents 7 doing more? Why aren't they relying upon the 8 juvenile system to help their children? Even if 9 it's to set up an agreement to contract between 10 these, these family members and the Court, to get 11 them treatment. It might be a better start. And 12 then to hear one woman say, yes, I was a victim of 13 domestic violence, and the detachment she had of her 14 involvement and the ramifications that it had on her 15 daughters and her ex-husband was just, you know, 16 lackadaisical. And it astounds me even right now to 17 why people are so scared to reach out to one other. 18 Why are those people just letting themselves or 19 their working environment stand up for them? 20 So what I propose might be a solution to 21 find out how we are going to redistrict. Let's not 22 be afraid to look at the F.B.I. reports, the newest 23 ones, to look and see where, in fact, everything is 24 on the rise; population, homelessness, the big eight 25 scary crime rates, and then go ahead and plan 18 1 accordingly to there, not just relying on 2 population, but upon the criminal activity and the 3 disparity that are happening in areas. And that is 4 my conclusion, and I thank you this afternoon. 5 SENATOR HARMON: Chairman Raoul is in the 6 chair. 7 SENATOR RAOUL: Thank you. Do any 8 Committee members have any questions of this 9 witness? 10 SENATOR HARMON: Can we add you to the 11 roll, Mr. Chairman, before we turn it back over to 12 you? Add Senator Raoul to the roll. 13 SENATOR RAOUL: Thank you, Senator 14 Harmon. Senator Luechtefeld? 15 SENATOR LUECHTEFELD: Well, first of all, 16 thank you for having the courage to come here today. 17 I guess my question would be, can you -- Would you 18 indicate to us how you feel, how you feel 19 redistricting can solve some of the problems that 20 you just, that you just mentioned? 21 MS. WHIPPLE: Like I said before -- 22 SENATOR LUECHTEFELD: Can you come back 23 to the -- 24 MS. WHIPPLE: Like I stated before, 25 constituency and the legislative, whether it's on a 19 1 Senatorial basis or on a local legislative State 2 basis, we have got to work together. Of course, we 3 know how the census works. Money is distributed to 4 areas on population. But that is the key point that 5 I'm making, Do not rely just on population. Look at 6 the area. Look at the conditions of -- Some of the 7 houses, not along just the interstates where the 8 major road is, but in the city as well. Look at the 9 crime rates that the F.B.I. gives us. Look at all 10 the statistics that you can and combine the 11 statistics with the population to get -- I don't 12 want to say better representation, but maybe more 13 representation that can network together in an area. 14 If an area is, you know, has doubled in 15 its amount and we need two representatives in that 16 area, then maybe -- maybe there is a way that we can 17 modify the district so that we can encompass more, 18 more senators, more legislation for those people 19 until their issues are quashed or calmed. 20 SENATOR RAOUL: I don't suppose to mind 21 read Senator Luechtefeld, but is your suggestion 22 that -- take high crime rate, for example, that we 23 consolidate all the high crime rate areas in one 24 district or split them up into different districts? 25 How would you guide us with regards to how we treat 20 1 high crime rate areas such that there's better 2 representation to address the criminal justice 3 issues? 4 MS. WHIPPLE: I know from doing research 5 this semester, that the D.E.A. has a good program, 6 that it educates. I'm a very big person on 7 education. I know the D.E.A. also helps 8 communities, not only through education, but they do 9 give money to allocate homes and to the homes that 10 can be modified into individual treatment centers 11 for people. So it's a combination of treatment, of 12 government working with the people. And if the 13 D.E.A. can do that, certainly -- 14 SENATOR RAOUL: I appreciate the policy 15 suggestions you're putting forth, but we're focusing 16 on the map making today, and how would you suggest 17 with regards to the issue that you're discussing, 18 our, you know, our map making would take place that 19 would, you know, address -- 20 MS. WHIPPLE: On -- 21 SENATOR RAOUL: You know, we can have -- 22 We can and we have and we will have hearings on 23 crime and different criminal law bills. Senator 24 Haine and I both serve on the Senate Criminal Law 25 Committee, and I highly rely on Senator Haine's 21 1 knowledge as a former prosecutor, former States's 2 Attorney. But we're here today to talk about -- 3 MS. WHIPPLE: Statistics is what it's 4 probably going to come down to. Statistics 5 generated by the F.B.I. of other criminality, in 6 certain locations. I know a lot of those reports do 7 major cities. But then to look -- You can probably 8 even go to the local police authorities and look 9 there at those, those reports and see what kind of 10 crimes are actually being committed in the smaller 11 communities, and then once again combine those 12 statistics with the F.B.I. report, with the U.S. 13 Census Bureau collection, and then base the 14 re-carving -- or not the re-carving, but the 15 redistricting on those rates, to see where 16 everything rises together. 17 SENATOR RAOUL: Senator Harmon? 18 SENATOR HARMON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 19 Ms. Whipple, I just have a question on a slightly 20 different topic. You had indicated on your witness 21 slip that you worked in the census in this last 22 round. What did you for the census? 23 MS. WHIPPLE: I was just your standard 24 taker. Just show up with the survey, and who are 25 the people in this household? How many in this 22 1 household? Did so and so move, or are you all here 2 on this day? Do you rent? And then, of course, 3 working with proxy and taking the proxy as much as 4 we can. 5 SENATOR HARMON: What area did you cover? 6 MS. WHIPPLE: Wood River. They kept me 7 in my home city. And then, of course, you know, I 8 found a lot people will work with the government, 9 but those that don't, Oh my goodness. When you show 10 up, they will do everything in their power -- I 11 don't have to do this, du-du-du-du-du (phonetic). 12 And some places that have been abandoned -- I've had 13 to go to the City of Wood River and say, Okay, when 14 was the last water usage from that place? None. 15 And then, of course, then we know from there, it's 16 probably safe that no one lives there on April 1st, 17 so -- 18 SENATOR HARMON: How do you feel about 19 the compliance? Do you think you were able to track 20 down everybody in your territory, or -- 21 MS. WHIPPLE: Yes. 22 SENATOR HARMON: -- do you think some 23 folks got through the cracks? 24 MS. WHIPPLE: Yes. On my own working 25 with my supervisor, working with the City of Wood 23 1 River, I do believe that we were pretty thorough and 2 complete. I don't think, at least on our part, that 3 we would have to re-do any taking. 4 SENATOR HARMON: That's great. Thank you 5 very much for your service. Much appreciated. 6 SENATOR RAOUL: Are there any other 7 witnesses here that wish to testify? We have only 8 received one witness slip. All right. Being as 9 such, this is probably the 13th, the 13th Senate 10 Redistricting Committee that we have conducted 11 throughout the State. The House of Representatives 12 have also had a number of hearings throughout the 13 State, and we -- What we attempted to do is to make 14 sure we covered as many areas as possible and avoid 15 a duplicating to the extent possible the areas 16 covered by the House of Representatives. 17 At our very first hearing, we were asked 18 to provide some technology, access to technology, so 19 that the everyday citizen, if they wish, have access 20 to technology can create their maps and submit them 21 for consideration, whether it be a map of the entire 22 State and all of the legislative districts or 23 confined to a specific area. And we did so by 24 providing work stations both at our State Capitol as 25 well as up north in the Bilandic building in 24 1 Chicago. 2 In addition to the hearings, we've also 3 maintained a website at 4 www.ilsenateredistricting.com. The testimony from 5 today's hearing as well as testimony from other 6 hearings as well as maps that have been put -- that 7 have been submitted to the Committee will all be 8 posted on a website as well as information with 9 regards to access to public work stations. I do 10 appreciate everybody who has come out today, and I 11 apologize for my own tardiness. I attempted to drop 12 off my children today and make it here from Chicago 13 and navigate the roads within Senator Haine's 14 district, but I'm glad -- I'm glad to pay this visit 15 to Alton, and I appreciate everybody's 16 participation. Senator Haine? 17 SENATOR HAINE: Mr. Chairman, I 18 appreciate you and the Committee affording the 19 people in this area an opportunity to come forward. 20 Apparently they're -- you know, I suppose they're 21 either satisfied with the way things are going or 22 they have other endeavors, particularly work. I 23 know many of the citizens are watching this process 24 and making it available online is good. 25 We have two mayors here, the Mayor of 25 1 Godfrey and the Mayor of St. Jacob. And they both 2 indicated they didn't want to testify, but they're 3 here on behalf of their communities. I know their 4 communities have a stake in this. And we know -- 5 You don't have to apologize. We know how far away 6 Chicago is from this area, so you don't have to 7 apologize at all. That's why we have trains and 8 planes to get to Chicago. So it's always a pleasure 9 to have you here, Senator. 10 SENATOR RAOUL: It's my pleasure. I 11 should mention that although this is our last 12 scheduled hearing prior to drawing a map to submit 13 for review, we still will take input from the public 14 via the e-mail at redistricting@senatedem.ilga.gov, 15 so the people who want to submit maps or submit any 16 type of information -- It could be an e-mail, just 17 saying I believe that this house ought to be in this 18 district or this plot or this community ought to be 19 contained together, whatever it may be. Such 20 information is helpful to us. 21 You know, what I've tried to be clear 22 about in all of our hearings, and we've had hearings 23 where we've had -- Our very first hearing was maybe 24 a four and a half hour long hearing, and we had 25 inconsistent testimony at that hearing. So we have 26 1 some community -- some communities of interest, 2 saying, Well, we want to keep this area separate 3 from this area, and we had other communities of 4 interest saying, Well, we want to be combined with 5 this area. So this is a complex process where 6 inevitably there will be a person or people who will 7 be disappointed with the results of this process 8 because it is a big jigsaw puzzle. We have to fit 9 it all within the boundaries of the State of 10 Illinois. We can't spill over into Missouri. We 11 can't spill over into Iowa, Wisconsin or Indiana. 12 We have to have districts of equal population. We 13 have to observe Federal and in State law and the 14 decisions of the Courts, and try to the extent 15 possible meet the needs of various and diverse 16 communities of interest, but I thank you all for 17 attending today, and I thank all the members of the 18 Committee for being here. Senator Harmon? 19 SENATOR HARMON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 20 I do want to commend Senator Haine. Thank you for 21 having this hearing here. And to reiterate, we have 22 had an awful lot of hearings. And some hearings, 23 we've had dozens of witnesses. At some, we've had 24 just one or two. And in the end, Mr. Chairman, I 25 would much rather be criticized for having hearings 27 1 in places that are far from the normal hubs of 2 government, the State Capitol or in Chicago, and 3 that we didn't have many witnesses, than be 4 criticized for not giving people the opportunity to 5 be heard. So I applaud your commitment to this 6 process and am grateful to serve with you on the 7 Committee. 8 SENATOR RAOUL: Thank you. 9 SENATOR HARMON: I'm also not surprised 10 why the citizens of Alton are satisfied with their 11 senator. 12 SENATOR HAINE: I appreciate it. 13 SENATOR RAOUL: Being no further 14 business -- 15 SENATOR HAINE: Godfrey, too. 16 SENATOR LUECHTEFELD: Well, first of all, 17 two times you've been down to Southern Illinois. 18 You need to rest up for a while. You can't -- but 19 at the Carbondale hearing, you did, I think indicate 20 that the map would be presented, and then you would 21 have hearings after the map is presented. Is that 22 still the case? 23 SENATOR RAOUL: That is my wishes, as 24 Chairman of the Senate Redistricting. 25 SENATOR LUECHTEFELD: Thank you. 28 1 SENATOR RAOUL: With there being no 2 further business from the Senate Redistricting 3 Committee, the Senate Redistricting Committee is 4 hereby adjourned. 5 6 (Whereupon, the proceedings were 7 concluded.) 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 29 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS ) ) 2 COUNTY OF MADISON ) 3 I, Mindi B. Lenhardt, a Certified Shorthand 4 Reporter, State of Illinois, hereby certify that I 5 reported these proceedings at the time these 6 proceedings transpired, that these proceedings were 7 reduced to shorthand by me on the day and at the 8 place and time first aforesaid and later transcribed 9 by computer, and this and the foregoing 28 pages are 10 a true and accurate transcript of the hearing held 11 at Alton Village Hall, 101 E. Third Street, Alton, 12 Illinois 62002 on the 2nd day of May, 2011. 13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto signed this 14 transcript this 4th day of May, 2011. 15 16 ____________________________ MINDI B. LENHARDT, CSR-RPR 17 #084-003621 Certified Shorthand Reporter 18 State of Illinois 19 20 21 22 23 24 25