WASHINGTON, March 10 (UPI) -- Democrats on Capitol Hill have shut the door on the idea of redrawing Illinois' congressional districts as payback for the 2004 Republican remap of Texas.
Nine of the 10 Democrats in the delegation who attended a recent meeting concluded they should not move forward on the idea being pushed by Reps. Rahm Emanuel and Jan Schakowsky.
By holding their fire, the Democrats in the state's congressional delegation said they wanted to make a statement, Roll Call said Thursday, and would not try to match the GOP efforts to redraw legislative boundaries in Colorado, Georgia and Texas, where Republicans pushed a map through the Legislature to replace one drawn by the courts.
"The conclusion that was reached," Costello said, "is we have more of a concern for the institution than we do our partisan concerns."
Emanuel echoed the sentiment that Democrats wanted to send a message by taking the high road though he acknowledged that disagreement existed within the party on the idea. State House Speaker Mike Madigan, a central figure in Illinois politics as well as state Democrat chairman, is cool to the idea.
