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PA Republicans and Democrats fight over redrawing congressional districts
Here's something that's really important that you probably don't understand (I didn't): redistricting in Pennsylvania. "This is not democracy," says Philly state Rep. Babette Josephs. "It is dictatorship."
PA Republicans and Democrats fight over redrawing congressional districts
Here's something that's really important that you probably don't understand (I sure didn't): redistricting in Pennsylvania.
State Rep. Babette Josephs (D-Phila) is accusing right-wing State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) and Republican Majority Leader Mike Turzai of "push[ing] through a Congressional map that the public will have little to no time to examine or provide input on how it will affect their communities. This is not democracy. It is dictatorship."
Indeed, the redistricting bill, which Metcalfe announced they would vote on next week, has basically no content: no maps, no details. Just sentences like "The First District is composed of a portion of this Commonwealth."
So what is going on?
After the decennial census comes redistricting, when the legislature redraws districts (for the state House and Senate in Harrisburg, and for the House of Representatives in Washington D.C.) to reflect the population shifts. Or, more pessimistically, it is an opportunity for each party and elected official to try their damnedest to make sure their district is not even remotely competitive, a form of high-end and democracy-eroding employment insurance called incumbent protection.
After the census, Pennsylvania lost a House seat (because we lost population relative to other states) during reapportionment (which is when House seats get divvied up among the 50 states). Republicans want to make sure that that lost seat, currently an abstraction, ends up belonging to a Democrat. Though registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by one million in Pennsylvania, Republicans control 12 House seats to the Democrats' seven. Republicans hope to reduce the number of Democratic districts to six — probably by merging two Democratic Pittsburgh-area districts.
Roll Call has a dizzying account of how GOP leaders are thinking of doing it. Republicans, however, reject Josephs' charges, and say their leadership has been a model of transparency.
"The House State Government Committee, with the Senate State Government Committee, already held an unprecedented three joint hearings regarding the Congressional reapportionment," House Republican spokesman Steve Miskin told City Paper. "The House and Senate chairs are working together on what we anticipate will be a public presentation regarding a proposed Congressional map. Chairman Metcalfe and the members of the committees are committed to a transparent process as they develop a redistricting plan that adheres to all constitutional and legal requirements. In fact, there has never been a redistricting cycle which was as open and accessible as this one."
The process of redistricting state House and Senate districts is further along. The Legislative Reapportionment Commission, or LRC (made up of two leaders from each party, and a Republican judge appointed by the Supreme Court who is supposed to be a "neutral" tiebreaker) already approved (Republican-drafted) draft districts in a party line vote that prompted protests from good government groups like Common Cause.
"While the commission has had nearly eight months to work on the data to define district boundaries, citizens have had less than three weeks to evaluate and comment," said Common Cause Pennsylvania Director Barry Kauffman.
The LRC must take a final vote on the plan by Dec. 12. Many will not be pleased:
"At the November hearings, dozens of people from across the state registered wide-ranging complaints about the planned reconfiguring of the 50 Senate districts and 203 House districts to reflect population shifts evident in the 2010 census. Their concerns included gerrymandering to protect incumbent legislators and parties, splitting dozens of communities into multiple House districts and the relocation of one Senate district from the state's southwest corner to its northeast corner."
One Republican district was shaped like the letter "C" in a naked effort to avoid Democratic areas of bankrupt Harrisburg.
Yet none of this is necessarily a case of Pennsylvania Republicans being worse than Democrats. In this state, both parties are well known for exercising bare-knuckled power plays. And when it comes to redistricting, such nakedly self-interested moves are, if not exactly heartwarming, entirely legal.
"It is first and foremost a political process," said Terry Madonna, Director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College. "Notwithstanding who's in power, whether it be Democrats or Republicans, they are going to do what they have to do to get whatever redistricting bill they want in whatever form they want through the legislature. This is about power. This is not a civics lesson. This is a civics lesson in the use of power: how about that?"
But even Madonna, a longtime observer of cynical power politics, says the legislature could do better. Unlike state legislative redistricting, congressional redistricting only requires a new law to be passed — with no required public input on the final maps.
"Are there going to be hearings? And will there be a time for public comment?" he asked.
Common Cause wants the whole redistricting process to be managed by an independent panel, as it is in some states.
When it comes to elections, however, there are some differences between the parties: Pennsylvania Republicans are doing their best to make sure that you can't vote (if you are black, poor or a student) no matter where you live. Like Republicans nationwide, they want to require voters to present an ID to prevent voter fraud. The problem is this: there is no such thing as voter fraud, though there is evidence that requiring voter ID would depress turnout among the black, poor and student.
The really entertaining back-story? As we've chronicled again and again, Rep. Josephs, who represents Center City and Philly's Gayborhood and used to be the State Government Committee chairwoman before Republicans took charge, has an ongoing feud with "the gun-toting, gay-bashing, tea-partying state rep" who now bangs the gavel. Rep. Metcalfe once threatened to have Josephs thrown out of a committee meeting.
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