Dinniman: Gerrymandered 7th District in PA needs a name
By Eric Boehm | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — With Republicans in control of the congressional redistricting process in Pennsylvania, some Democrats say their only course of action is to turn to satire.
And the newly proposed 7th Congressional District seems to be asking for it.
The district sweeps across portions of five different counties in southeast Pennsylvania — Delaware, Montgomery, Chester, Berks and Lancaster — and at times stretches narrowly between two larger blocks and at others doubles back upon itself to surround parts of other districts.
But what is the best way to describe it? State Sen. Andrew Dinniman, R-Chester, said he thinks he has the answer.
Specifically, Dinniman said he is thinking of Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell in Greek mythology.
“Maybe that’s what this district is all about,” he said.
But for those who have to live in the oddly-shaped districts, this is about more than funny shapes.
Democrats have decried the district as the worst example of gerrymandering — drawing districts to favor one party — on a map designed to maintain the 12 Republican-controlled seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“This map — and this entire process — has been shameful, it in no way takes into consideration the concerns of Pennsylvanians or how best to represent them, and it is not worthy of our great Commonwealth” said Pennsylvania Democratic Party chairman Jim Burn, in a statement.
Republicans defended the changes as necessary, because the state is losing one congressional district, as the result of lower-than-national-average growth during the past decade.
“As we lose congressmen, we have to stretch each district’s population to make it larger,” said state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre.
State Sen. Charles McIlhinney, R-Bucks, chairman of the Senate State Government Committee, said the odd shapes in the southeast resulted from higher population densities and “leftovers” from other districts.
But state Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, the minority chairman of the committee, did not accept those explanations.
Political observers said the new map, and the behind-closed-doors process used to carve it, were an affront to the state’s voters. Like all legislation, the details of the congressional maps do not have to be public until they are introduced in bill form.
Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, which lobbies for more transparent and accountable government, said the public was not given adequate time to comment on the finished product, which was made public Tuesday and is expected to pass both chambers in about a week.
“This plan is brazen in its defiance of Pennsylvania voters’ interests,” Kauffman said.
Kauffman said a public comment period should have lasted for at least 30 days after the maps were introduced.
Under state law, state-level House and Senate districts must be public for 30 days before they can be approved.
Though hearings were held on congressional redistricting by House and Senate State Government Committees, they took place during the spring, long before the new congressional map was developed.
The new congressional map was passed out of the Senate State Government Committee with a vote of 6-5 on Wednesday morning, and passed the full state Senate with a 26-24 vote on Wednesday night.
The Democratic members of the state Senate voted unanimously against the plan after their own proposal was rejected as an amendment. Republican state Sens. Mike Brubaker (Lancaster), Jane Earll (Erie), Mike Folmer (Lebanon) and Pat Vance (Cumberland) voted against the map as well.
The most substantial change made to the congressional plan introduced Tuesday was an adjustment of the border between the new 10th and 17th Districts in the northeast.
Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg, two boroughs in Monroe County, will move from the 17th District to the 10th District, while Carbondale, in Lackawanna County, will flip from the 10th district to the 17th district.
Republicans said the change was made to ensure equal populations in the two districts. There are about 705,000 people in each new congressional district in the state.
A hearing in the House State Government Committee is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, with a final vote in the lower chamber expected next week.
Folmer, one of two Republicans to vote against the plan in committee, said 24 hours was not enough time for lawmakers and constituents to digest the changes made by the new district map.
He also criticized the process, which protects incumbents and political interests.
Folmer said the blame should fall on both parties, because Democrats would have done the same thing if they controlled the redistricting process and its maps.
Dinniman agreed, at least to a point, though he said the Republican-drawn map was “clearly over the line.”
“Everyone accepts some gerrymandering,” he said. “That’s reality, and we would do it just as you’re doing it.”
UPDATE – This story was updated at 11:38 p.m. on 12/14/11 to reflect the final vote in the state Senate.
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