The Incredible Shrinking County Board

The Lake County Clerk neglected to attach the required label on the County Board 2010 election ballot:

WARNING Some Shrinkage May Occur

As readers of this blog are painfully aware ...

County Board Remap Magic

the Lake County Board wants to shrink itself from 23 members to 21. The National Retail Federation estimates that 79% of all shrinkage can be attributed to theft. Lake County voters are advised to monitor their wallets & pocketbooks, accordingly.

The Daily Herald has the disturbing figures:

If the county goes ahead with a 21-district map, the target population per district would be 33,498, officials said. As a result, some current districts that have larger populations will be divided. Conversely, some that are below that ideal population will be combined with parts of others to hit that figure.
Lake Co. Board could shrink this year

Democracy, measured by access to power, is proportional to representation. As an example, in 2002 there were 10837 people for each McHenry County board member. By contrast, in that same year, a Lake County board member represented 28015 people. In 2002, undeveloped McHenry County was nearly three times as democratic as Lake County.

The proposed target population number of 33498 means each Lake County board district will bear an increase of 5483, from ten years earlier. A change of this magnitude amounts, per voter, to a startling 17% decline in representation. To put that number in perspective, laid end-to-end, 5483 voters would span the entire Route 53 Extension breakdown lane.

Informed sources say the Lake County County Board has been closely monitoring the spontaneous citizen pro-democracy uprisings in the Mid-East and elsewhere. In an effort to prevent a copycat pro-democracy movement from taking root in Lake County, the County Board has decided to implement these anti-democratic, Realpolitik measures over the next ten years. The near term goal is to consolidate power by eliminating five members from the board. One board member, Aaron Lawlor, summed up the hurdles they face:

Trying to whack at least five commissioners' jobs in 10 years would be "near impossible" politically because the move would pit sitting board members against each other in the 2022 election, Lawlor said.
Lake Co. Board could shrink this year

Grover Norquist famously said ...

Our goal is to shrink government to the size where we can drown it in a bathtub.
BrainyQuote

The Lake County Board is next scheduled to take a bath in 2012.