meredith mcgee. >> hi, meredith mcgee with the campaign legal center. one of the issues you guys had not addressed yet is the role of parties. and i find this particularly interesting because when you talk to folks, play -- particularly on the republican side, many of their solutions deals with strengthening the parties. so one of the questions i have when you talk about looking at these matching systems whether arizona is what you think the appropriate role of party should be, one would say on one argument that they're a moderating influence, the other argument -- experience in illinois might be that the parties are a corrupting influence. so what role do you see the parties playing in these systems? >> well, as a fellow resident of illinois, i think you're spot on with your take. um, that's a tough question. i mean, i, i'm not a party scholar, and i think there is some debate among political scientists about how we should interpret parties. but i think the role of the party is, you know, when you talk to the party leaders particularly in the assembly,

meredith mcgee. >> hi, meredith mcgee with the campaign legal center. one of the issues you guys had not addressed yet is the role of parties. and i find this particularly interesting because when you talk to folks, play -- particularly on the republican side, many of their solutions deals with strengthening the parties. so one of the questions i have when you talk about looking at these matching systems whether arizona is what you think the appropriate role of party should be, one would say on one argument that they're a moderating influence, the other argument -- experience in illinois might be that the parties are a corrupting influence. so what role do you see the parties playing in these systems? >> well, as a fellow resident of illinois, i think you're spot on with your take. um, that's a tough question. i mean, i, i'm not a party scholar, and i think there is some debate among political scientists about how we should interpret parties. but i think the role of the party is, you know, when you talk to the party leaders particularly in the assembly,