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Preposterous. That is the first word that came to my mind after the Republicans in the House unveiled their long-awaited and highly partisan map, a map that was composed in secrecy and largely the work of a former Republican county commissioner who lacked the knowledge, tools and commitment to present a fair and balanced redistricting map. Chester County The proposed Republican map chops Chester County into two congressional districts, putting Congressmember Chrissy Houlihan in a new district that at best could be described as leaning Republican. At the same time, it leaves Republican Congressmember Brian Fitzpatrick’s district largely intact and, perhaps, even a safer Republican seat. The proposed new map, like the extremely gerrymandered map the state Supreme Court threw out, stretches the Houlihan district into three counties adding much more of Berks County and parts of Lebanon County, making the district more challenging for Representative Houlihan to be re-elected. As you may remember, prior to our current map, the district that was home to most of Chester County’s voters was one of the most gerrymandered districts in the country and this proposed Republican-drawn map takes us back in that direction. This is not acceptable. A 12 to 5 Republican congressional delegation Most observers believe the result of this map, if passed, will be a 12 to 5 Republican congressional delegation. This is patently unfair in a state that is at worst, purple, but more aptly described as leaning blue. Our current map, which exists because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court replaced the last gerrymandered Republican redistricting scheme with a map that more accurately reflects the political make-up of our state, produced a Congressional delegation that is evenly split with 9 Democratic and 9 Republican members. This is not acceptable. State Government Committee failure I serve on the State Government Committee in the Pennsylvania House. I was hopeful, based on promises from Republican Chair Seth Grove, that our process would be transparent with ample public input, that we would have a map that reflected the criteria and guidelines established by the Supreme Court, the Governor and civic bodies such as Fair Districts PA. That did not happen. This is not acceptable. How it works The Congressional redistricting map which is redrawn every 10 years after the census data is compiled, is the responsibility of the legislature and must be signed by Governor Wolf in order to become law. If the Governor vetoes the map passed by the Republican controlled House and Senate and the legislature fails to deliver a map the Governor will sign, the Supreme Court will take over the process and appoint an expert to draw congressional boundaries. Let me be clear, I will actively oppose this map in committee and call on Governor Wolf to veto this atrocity if it ever makes it to his desk. The process is different for legislative redistricting. Pennsylvania law mandates legislative districts be drawn by a five-member commission composed of the majority and minority leaders of the Pennsylvania House and Senate who pick a fifth person to be chair. If they cannot agree, the majority of the PA Supreme Court appoints a chair. Of course, the legislative leaders could not agree on who the chair of the redistricting commission should be so the Pennsylvania Supreme Court appointed former University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg. Stay tuned. Please know that in my capacity on the State Government Committee I will do all I can to ensure that we have a fair and transparent redistricting process and the end result fairly reflects the political and cultural diversity of our Commonwealth. Thanks for reading, Kristine |