Redistricting blues: There’s nothing funny about it

“Goofy Kicking Donald Duck” is getting the last laugh.

That, of course, is the ridicule heaped on the monstrosity that was the 7th Congressional District. The district once was comprised of the bulk of Delaware County, along with a few outlying areas.

That was before the 2011 redistricting process, performed by Republicans who control the state Legislature. They bent, contorted and twisted the 7th District in a bizarre fashion, literally touching on five different counties, stretching from King of Prussia to Reading.

Incumbent Republican 7th District U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan then promptly rolled to huge wins in three successive elections, routinely racking up 60 percent of the vote. It was not an accident. That was the whole idea behind the process, to twist and distort it to the partisan advantage of Republicans, in particular incumbents. Areas of GOP strength were included, while Democratic-leaning regions were excised.

Eventually the Pennsylvania Supreme Court intervened. They ruled the redistricting process performed in 2011 a classic example of a partisan gerrymander – with the 7th District being Exhibit A. Not only that, but they threw out the old Congressional map and drew up one of their own. It will be in place for the May 15 primary. The 7th is out, replaced by a new 5th District, which includes all of Delaware County under one roof, as well as a sliver of Montgomery County along the Main Line, and a portion of South and Southwest Philadelphia.

The high court treated one symptom, but they didn’t cure the disease.

The disease is called politics, and how it pollutes too much of our democratic process. In this instance, it takes the basic tenet of democracy, the voice of voters in selecting their elected representatives, and stands it on its head. In effect, gerrymandering, specifically as it is practiced in Pennsylvania, clears the path for just the opposite, allowing elected leaders to select their voters.

The answer is to get politics out of the equation, to take the crucial task of drawing up congressional districts out of the greedy finger of politicians who clearly can’t help themselves when it comes to bending things to their advantage.

That is precisely what one state representative had in mind. And it’s why something else that is happening in Harrisburg is so disheartening.

Rep. Steve Samuelson, D-Northampton, introduced a bill that would do just that, creating a citizens’ redistricting commission that would be tasked with drawing the new maps based on the results of the census.

But politics – at least the kind practiced in Harrisburg – is a funny business, almost as funny as “Goofy Kicking Donald Duck.”

When the bill finally came up in the House State Government Committee, politics reared its ugly head again. Committee Chairman Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, with no public hearing, and barely a word of public debate, put up an amendment that basically neutered the legislation. Instead of getting an 11-member commission made up of voters from the two major parties as well as lesser-known parties, Metcalfe ignored the calls for getting the process out of the hands of politicians and instead created a six-member panel of legislators, with control again residing with the majority party. No surprise, that happens to be in the hands of Republicans these days.

Not only does the Metcalfe switcheroo leave citizens again on the outside looking in, but his plan also clears the way to keep that pesky state Supreme Court out of the process as well.

Metcalfe was back at it again this week, once again torpedoing this push toward a fairer, more equitable method of redistricting.

Fair Districts PA, the group that has pushed long and hard to take politics out of this equation, called the Mecalfe maneuver “a blatant attempt to bypass the public interest in an independent commission.”

Metcalfe’s amended version passed the committee on a straight party-line vote. But the chairman never released it to the full House, which means the House never got the chance to amend it back to something akin to its original intent. In the process at least voters would have been able to get a clear view of where their representatives stood.

Metcalfe did an instant replay this week, once again gutting a similar bill.

All of this comes as a poll sponsored by the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, Common Cause Pa, Why Courts Matter – Pa, and the League of Women Voters shows a majority of Pennsylvanians want meaningful change when it comes to the redistricting process.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents said they support an independent commission to draw district lines. Of those 55 percent strongly support the change. Only 22 percent indicated they wanted the job to remain in the hands of politicians.

Hope for meaningful change is not dead yet. A similar bill is making its way through the Senate. Outraged House Democrats went on something of a legislative rant, producing more than 80 bills they say have been bottled up in the State Government Committee for little reason other than Metcalfe’s whim. They urged Republican House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, to assign them to other committees where they might stand a chance of seeing the light of day.

Pennsylvania voters deserve meaningful change when it comes to the political chicanery known as gerrymandering. Metcalfe clearly is standing in the way of that change. We might remind him of his title. He is a representative, in other words, someone who is supposed to “represent” the will of the voters.

Pennsylvanians want this process taken out of the hands of politicians.

“Goofy Kicking Donald Duck” may be gone, but it’s not forgotten.

And no one is laughing.