Franklin Park, Northlake mayors react to redistricting

• Reprints

Updated: November 24, 2011 3:34AM

When it comes to redistricting of the state legislative districts, one municipal leader says he’s looking forward to multiple representatives, while another is happy with retaining one.

The General Assembly has until the end of Memorial Day weekend to complete is decennial redrawing of Illinois House and Senate districts.

Under proposed maps released last week by the state Democratic party, Rep. Angelo “Skip” Saviano (R-77) could lose parts of Franklin Park.

Taking over would be Michael McAuliffe (R-20), in the northeast corner, and Camille Lilly (D-78) in much of the eastern half of the village. Saviano would retain the western edge of town.

That’s just fine with Village President Barrett Pedersen, who refers to both Saviano and McAuliffe as “phenomenal” state representatives.

“Mike’s a work horse,” Pedersen said. “He used to represent part of Leyden Township before the remap 10 years ago. Skip, I’m hoping he can keep part of Franklin Park”

Both are veterans. McAuliffe has served since 1996, Saviano since 1993. Lilly, in contrast, just took office in April 2010.

“She’d be working with two individuals who have quite a bit of experience,” Pedersen said.

While Pedersen says there could be disadvantages to multiple state representatives, he prefers to focus on the upside.

“You have three state representatives pulling for you in Springfield,” Pedersen said.

Nor is Pedersen, a Democrat, concerned about calling up Republicans McAuliffe and Saviano.

“I like to call them Republicrats,” Pedersen said.

Stability in Northlake

Over in Northlake, proposed districts call for Saviano to remain as representative and Don Harmon (D-39) as state senator. Northlake Mayor Jeff Sherwin is happy to see them remain.

“I’d rather have one representative and one senator than being split,” Sherwin said. “If you have only a portion of a town, it’s not the biggest priority when that senator or representative votes. The priority goes where the bulk of the constituents are.”

Besides state legislative requirements, the party in power has two priorities when redistricting, said Dick Simpson, chairman of the political science department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“Incumbent protection and partisan advantage,” Simpson said.

Statewide, redistricting started in Chicago, which is all Democratic. The city lost about 200,000 residents since the 2000 census.

“They extended districts out to encompass more of the suburbs,” Simpson said. “They had to be able to craft districts where Democrats wouldn’t lose positions. The next thing is to try to put Republicans from several districts into the same districts, so they would have to run against each other.”

If the General Assembly is unable to approve new districts by the end of Memorial Day weekend, then Republicans will be able to block any vote.