LETTER: The path to reform starts with unseating Kilbride

To the Editor:

I am a township supervisor and a Republican Precinct Committeeman in La Salle County. I am urging you to vote no on the retention of Justice Tom Kilbride on Nov. 3.

Kilbride has received millions of dollars in campaign funding from the corrupt Speaker of the House and Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, Mike Madigan. In return for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court, Kilbride has blocked any challenge to the Madigan Machine’s political power.

In 2001, Kilbride delivered the Supreme Court opinion in favor of Madigan’s gerrymandered maps. In 2016, he again ruled in favor of Madigan’s maps and struck down a nonpartisan redistricting effort by the bipartisan Independent Map Coalition. In 2021, Madigan will draw new districts, and the Supreme Court will likely rule on that map as well. Do we really want a Justice, bought and paid for by Madigan, ruling on this highly partisan map?

If we retire Kilbride, we can restore balance to the Supreme Court and enable good-government advocates the opportunity to achieve reform in Illinois. The path to reform starts with unseating Kilbride. Let’s begin to end the corruption in Illinois. Vote no on retaining Kilbride.

Beth Findley

Ottawa