(Sun Prairie) – Today, Governor Tony Evers announced the application and selection processes for The People’s Maps Commission, his effort to ensure that Wisconsin legislative districts are drawn fairly and transparent to the public. Rep. Hebl (D-Sun Prairie) released the following statement in response:
I am very impressed with what I have seen for the requirements to be on the Governor’s commission. It will NOT have politicians, party operatives, or lobbyists. The commission will consist of regular Wisconsin residents who want to ensure the public has input into how legislative maps are drawn.
When the current maps were drawn almost a decade ago, they were done in secret, with no public input, and with the goal of maintaining a permanent Republican majority. That is simply not how it should be done. Maps must be drawn fairly so that the Legislature can be held accountable to the people they represent. If maps are drawn to insulate legislators from changing popular opinion, they stop being responsive to their constituents; instead, they become solely reliant on the deep pocketed donors who fuel their re-election campaigns. This is not democracy.
I look forward to seeing who Governor Evers selects for this commission and I am excited that we will have a chance to actually see the process of redistricting this time around. I can only hope that whichever party is in power in 2021 will take this commission’s recommendation into account.
