In the Right

Wouldn't the shorter time frame act to keep the pressure on the legislators, and thereby make the legislative leadership's job a bit easier?

Well, the filing deadline for the February 2010 primary elections will be in December 2009.

Many of these same Democratic leaders, you see, were in charge of the legislature in 2007, when they passed a bill moving up the date of the 2008 Illinois primary election to February 5, 2008, so that their favorite son, Barack Obama, could enjoy at least one guaranteed win on Super Duper Tuesday.

But unlike other states, where the presidential preference primary and the state's congressional and legislative primaries were held on separate days, Illinois Democrats decided to hold the congressional and legislative primaries on the first Tuesday in February, too. And that calendar remains in effect for 2010, even though the 2008 Illinois presidential primary is long gone.

By funding the government through January 2010, Democratic leaders will have a key political arrow in their quiver as they try to shepherd major tax increases through the legislature in January -- they'll know which Democrats (and Republicans, for that matter) will be facing primary challengers in the February 2010 primary elections.

They also will know which ones won't.

The ones who won't be facing primary challenges will be expected to carry the load of casting the votes required to pass those re-election-threatening tax hikes -- because the ones who face no primary challenge will be able to vote for a massive tax hike with impunity.

Why will those who escape a primary challenge be considered safe to vote for a tax hike?

Wouldn't a vote for a tax hike be a threat in a general election?

Actually, no. Not in the Land of Lincoln.

Because Illinois is one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation.

About the only challenge a lawmaker running for re-election can face is in a primary election.

In other words, the fix is in -- if the Democrats who run Illinois have their way, there will be a massive tax hike passed through the legislature in January 2010, just weeks before the primary elections, after the filing deadline for entering primary contests has passed.

But nobody who's facing a serious threat to re-election will have to cast a vote for that tax increase.

It will come to Illinois taxpayers courtesy of the successful gerrymandering of the state.

Let this be Exhibit A for anyone who thinks redistricting overhaul and ending the gerrymander is a dry subject that's of interest only to political science professors.

In this case, the message is clear: Gerrymandering = tax hikes.