By Yasmin Tadjdeh | PA Independent

HARRISBURG — A seahorse-shaped congressional district in southwestern Pennsylvania that has been a Democratic stronghold could be cut, as state lawmakers begin working on a new congressional district map with one less congressional seat.

“Political gerrymandering is legal in our state … and the Republicans are not going to off one of their members,” said Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster.

Gerrymandering occurs when a political party attempts to create a political advantage by manipulating geographic boundaries that clump people with certain ideologies together to protect the incumbents of one party.

Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, a nonprofit citizens’ advocacy group that fights for transparent government, said Pennsylvania has a long history of questionably legal congressional districts.

“Pennsylvania is notable for the ingenuity devoted to the creation of painfully convoluted legislative districts at the congressional and state legislative levels (as well as) the unwillingness of the commonwealth’s courts to respond favorably to citizens’ complaints about apparent gerrymandering,” said Kauffman.

Pennsylvania will lose a congressional district, bringing its total to 18, because of a relative decline in population. The 2010 census figures showed Pennsylvania’s population rose 3.4 percent since 2000, but that is less than the national average.

The House and Senate State Government Committees, over the next several months, will be tasked with drawing new borders and determining which district is removed from the map. Because Republicans control the state House and Senate and the governor’s seat, they will lead the redistricting effort.

Perhaps the most likely target for elimination is the 12th congressional district, which includes all of Green County, and parts of Allegheny, Armstrong, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

The southwestern district was represented by the late U.S. Rep. John Murtha, who held the seat for more than two decades. Following Murtha’s death in February 2010, Mark Critz, D-Penn., took over his district in a special election.

“There is a distinct possibly that (District 12) could be eliminated entirely,” said Thomas Baldino, professor of political science at Wilkes University.

Madonna said because the upcoming redistricting is in the Republican’s hands, they will want to protect the 7th, 8th and 11th districts. Those seats are held by Republican U.S. Reps. Pat Meehan, Mike Fitzpatrick and Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Penn., respectively. All three are first-term congressmen. The 7th and 8th districts are in the southeastern portion of the state near Philadelphia, while the 11th district is in the northeastern portion.

But state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, chairman of the House State Government Committee, said the redistricting process will be legal and fair.

“One of the principles that we’re required to abide by … is to ensure that a district is representative down to the person based on the census numbers, that you want to have the districts equally represented down to the voter — one person, one vote,” said Metcalfe.

Other participants at the hearing called for committee members to keep the boundaries as unified as possible and avoid severely moving around district lines.

“It is important not only to have equal representation but also united representation (in the congressional districts). By leaving the existing political subdivisions united, it gives the people the strongest representation possible,” said Amanda Holt, of Lehigh County.

For now, hearings on congressional redistricting will be moved to the fall, with a final decision needed by the end of the year before the state’s primary election. The congressional redistricting process is handled in the same way as any other piece of legislation. The state House and state Senate must approve the final map, before it goes to the governor for his consideration.