Nothing special about it: ‘Goofy Kicking Donald Duck’ just got goofier
And you thought “Goofy Kicking Donald Duck” was a joke. As the old saying goes, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
“Goofy Kicking Donald Duck” is the ugly moniker slapped on the monstrous gerrymander that resulted in the 7th Congressional District being bent and twisted into a bizarre shape, two large land masses that touched on five different suburban counties.
It sparked a lawsuit by the League of Women Voters, claiming the last redistricting process, which resulted in this mess, was unconstitutional. The state high court agreed, saying it was a clearly partisan act and being used by Republicans in the state Legislature to protect their own, in particular GOP incumbents.
Incumbents like Rep. Pat Meehan. That’s why the 7th District Republican rolled to three consecutive easy re-election bids, routinely racking up 60 percent of the vote.
Not only did the state high court toss the old districts, they drew up and implemented one of their own.
They got rid of the old 7th and created a new district, the 5th, which basically put all of Delaware County under one roof, along with a sliver of Montgomery County along the Main Line, and a portion of South and Southwest Philadelphia.
They didn’t get rid of Meehan; he took care of that himself.
The former Delco D.A. and U.S. Attorney opted not to seek re-election after being ensnared in a controversy over his use of taxpayer funds to settle a sex harassment suit filed by a former campaign staffer.
That was back in January. At the time, Meehan said he would continue working and serve out the remainder of his term, which ends in January. That changed last Friday. Meehan announced he was resigning his seat immediately.
That created all sorts of problems.
Under the state constitution, Gov. Tom Wolf had 10 days to announce a special election to fill Meehan’s seat. Yesterday he announced the special election would be held in conjunction with the general election on Nov. 6.
There are several problems with this, not the least of which is the fact that it means residents of the current 7th District will in essence be without representation in Congress until next January.
That’s on Meehan. If he had stepped down earlier, the election could have been aligned with the May 15 Primary. But waiting as long as he did took that possibility out of the equation. The election cannot be held for 60 days after the governor makes his decision. There’s more. There is the cost of the special election. By picking Nov. 6, Wolf at least mitigated some of the cost, since it will occur on the same day as the general election. Then there is the confusion. Remember, the 7th District as we know it is going away. But not before this special election.
What does that mean? It means that on May 15 voters in Delaware County will go to the polls to select candidates to run in the November election for the new 5th District seat. While Republicans have united behind Pearl Kim, a former county assistant district attorney and deputy state attorney general, there are 10 Democrats on the ballot. That’s down from 14.
But come November, voters - at least some of them - actually will be casting ballots in two races, both the 7th and 5th.
We can assume that the winners of the Democratic and Republican Primary in the 5th District race will run in the special election for the 7th District race.
There’s more. The special election will be held according to the boundaries of the old 7th district, yes those same gnarled borders that just got tossed out. That means that some people will not be able to vote in the 7th race but will be eligible to cast a ballot in the 5th. That includes that portion of Delaware County along the river, including the city of Chester. Remember under the old map they were part of Rep. Bob Brady’s 1st District.
And all those people in outlying locales such as Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties that were in the 7th will be allowed to vote in the special election, but not in the general election for the 5th. That’s because they are no longer included in the 5th.
And all of this will be done for someone who technically will only sit as the 7th District representative for two months. In January all of Delaware County will be represented by the new 5th District rep. Confused yet? Yeah, so are we. “Goofy Kicking Donald Duck?”
Yeah, it’s Goofy alright.