The Illinois GOP’s Favorite Physicist - Chicago News Cooperative

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by KRISTEN McQUEARY | Jul 28, 2011

Sweaty-shirted college students dawdled into a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University on a recent weekday, lugging water bottles to manage the heat blanketing the DeKalb campus like fleece.

Mike Fortner yanked on a cord, pulling a screen from the ceiling for his presentation on amplifiers and generators. In a wrinkled shirt, loafers and wire-rimmed glasses, he looked the part of physics professor.

But Fortner’s other life often demands different threads. He wears suits and neckties on the House floor in Springfield where he represents Chicago’s western suburbs. He is one of 54 Republicans and the only scientist.

Fortner’s colleagues have consulted him more than usual this year. He is a numbers junkie trained in analyzing reams of scientific data. That expertise lends itself to redistricting, the 10-year process of changing the boundaries of legislative districts. Realigning districts requires careful study of U.S. Census data, demographics and voter registration rolls.

“He is our party’s go-to person in the caucus – actually, in the state,” said Rep. Dennis Reboletti (R-Elmhurst). “He has a mind that thrives on mathematics and he enjoys that type of challenge, and I think that shows in the redistricting process.”

Led by Christine Radogno of Lemont, the Republican leader in the Senate, and Tom Cross of Oswego, her counterpart in the House, Republicans filed a lawsuit last week challenging the map of new General Assembly districts, drawn by majority Democrats, which takes effect next year.

Republicans on Thursday also filed a court case challenging the map of congressional districts. Part of the state case includes an alternative map Fortner helped draw.

But historically, attempts to toss out maps take years to wind through the courts. Few lawsuits nationally result in a complete revamping of legislative districts. The process in many states, including Illinois, is controlled by majority political parties.

“I’m not a lawyer, so it’s hard for me to assess the lawsuit’s chances,” said Fortner, 53, from his N.I.U. office. “But I think there are reasonable grounds for looking at how this map was put together and that it did not meet the types of standards required by federal and state law.”

Fortner and others hoped to take redistricting out of the legislature’s hands, but failed to collect enough signatures for a ballot initiative.

Fortner said he was not disgruntled when Democrats unveiled their map on a Friday afternoon in May with little time for Republicans to review it, even though his own 95th District virtually disappeared.

“It didn’t surprise me that we had a very partisan map,” he said. “That’s what this process lends itself toward.”

Fortner served as his party’s spokesman on the House redistricting committee and spent hours quizzing Barbara Flynn Currie of Chicago, the Democratic majority leader, and a consultant during a hearing on the map in Springfield. Much of their discussion about specific boundaries became the template for the state GOP lawsuit.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think his points were well taken. I don’t think he laid a glove on our expert witness, but I certainly understand why he would be anxious to try to do so,” Currie said. “He was using the playbook he was given, and that’s fair.”

Fortner enjoys analyzing the data of redistricting.

“Obviously it involves lot of numbers,” he said. “A lot of numeric data and being able to manipulate large volumes of numbers is something I do in my research and my work as a physicist as well.”

Besides teaching at N.I.U., Fortner studies the properties of subatomic particles at Batavia-based Fermilab.

Prior to running for state representative, he was mayor of West Chicago, an alderman and a former school board member. He is married with two children.

“He’s pretty astute on municipal issues because he was a former mayor,” said Rep. Darlene Senger (R-Naperville). “I joke that I should pay him for a continuing education because I feel like I’m earning an advanced degree every month.”

Fortner often hears from constituents that he doesn’t look or act like a politician. He wears a thick beard and colored shirts and ties. In Springfield, he often uses two laptops at his desk. Voters, he said, aren’t used to scientists in public office. “They picture all politicians are lawyers,” he said.

Kristen McQueary covers state government as part of a partnership between CNC and Chicago Public Media

via chicagonewscoop.org

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