Partisan amendment to ‘gerrymandering’ bill puts redistricting reform in peril
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Fair Districts PA volunteer presenter Anna Fisher questions the practice of gerrymandering.
Current map of Pennsylvania Congressional districts
Map of Pennsylvania Congressional districts as approved in 2011 and nullified by the state Supreme Court in 2018
Pennsylvania’s Senate districts
Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives districts
Amendment to ‘gerrymandering’ bill puts redistricting reform in peril
{child_byline}By Harry Funk
Staff writer
hfunk@thealmanac.net
{/child_byline}
In the span of a few hours last week, a nonpartisan organization seeking redistricting reform went from supporting a state Senate bill to registering staunch opposition.
Fair District PA volunteer Anna Fisher’s presentation in Bethel Park happened to occur the evening after an amendment to SB 22, which would establish an independent reapportionment and redistricting commission to draw Congressional and Legislative maps, changed the scope of the bill considerably.
Fisher referred to the measure introduced by state Sen. Ryan Aument, R-Lancaster County, as a “poison pill” and “basically an attack on independent judiciary.” Approved largely along party lines, the amendment calls for the election of Supreme Court justices by to-be-established districts instead of a vote across Pennsylvania.
The bill as amended passed 35-14 on June 13 and heads to the House of Representatives.
According to a news release by his office, Aument cited the Supreme Court’s decision nullifying the Congressional map for the state drafted in 2011 as providing impetus for his amendment. He points out that five of the seven current justices are from just two counties, Allegheny and Philadelphia.
“I agree with the Court insofar as the opportunity to represent the people of Pennsylvania should be fair,” he is quoted as saying. “In keeping with that laudable goal, this proposal further enshrines that principle into our Constitution so that we would no longer have disproportionate representation on the appellate judicial bench.”
Fair Districts PA, an arm of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania striving for competitive elections and partisan fairness, takes a different viewpoint, referring to the amendment on its Twitter feed as “a betrayal of public trust.”
Fisher, a Squirrel Hill resident who has been leading Fair District PA presentations for the past year, elaborated during the Bethel Park event.
“Supreme Court justices, wherever they are originally from, are the third branch of government. They are not supposed to be politicized. Even if they are, this will politicize them further,” she said. “They essentially pass judgments that affect all of us” so it should stand to reason that all of us should be electing them.”
In a statement from his office, Jay Costa Jr. of Forest Hills, the Senate Democratic leader, raised grave concerns about the Republican amendment.
“The Republicans who voted for it are doing so in retaliation for the Supreme Court’s recent decision on their gerrymandered maps from 2010. It would ensure a Republican majority on the court, while the advocates and supporters of Senate Bill 22 have been pursuing fair elections.”
Beyond Fisher’s discussion about SB 22, she spoke about the mission of Fair Districts PA and its goal of eliminating gerrymandering, the two-century-old practice by which maps of voting districts are drawn in such a way to all but ensure one political party’s success.
“There are some states where one party is particularly insidious about this,” Fisher explained. “In Pennsylvania, it happens to be Republicans. In Maryland, it happens to be Democrats. In California, it used to be Democrats.
“So this is not an issue of parties,” she continued. “This is an issue of voters, us, being robbed of our votes by virtue of parties wanting to fight with each other and cut us out of the process.”
Gerrymandering compromises the very issue of representation, Fisher contended.
“In that situation, there is no incentive for the person running in that district to knock on doors, to learn about the voters’ issues, to connect with them, to offer solutions,” she said. “Why? Because they’re not the ones putting them into their position. It’s the map, by virtue of how the map is drawn, that’s putting them in that position.”
Despite its judiciary-related amendment, SB 22 still proposes an amendment to the state Constitution that would set up an 11-member independent commission with input from both parties. For state Senate and House districts, redrawn maps are to include the “fewest number of divisions to counties, municipalities and wards within the maximum population deviation permissible.”
Congressional districts, according to the bill’s arcane language, “shall each have a population within the maximum population deviation permissible and shall be composed of compact and contiguous territory and, unless absolutely necessary, no county, city, incorporated town, borough, township or ward shall be divided in forming” a district.
For more information about Fair Districts PA, visit www.fairdistrictspa.com.