Officials urged to support fair districts plan
WEST CHESTER » Representatives of a non-partisan group urging the state to reform the manner in which voting districts are drawn and redrawn every decade asked the Chester County commissioners on Tuesday to join their crusade for an independent body to oversee the politically contentious process.
“The Chester County commissioners are well known for their progressive policies and leadership in the practice of good government and civility,” said Mark Pavlovich, a volunteer from West Goshen with Fair Districts PA, a non-profit organization lobbying for a new redistricting method in
association with Common Cause and the state League of Women Voters.
“Fixing a badly broken redistricting process is in keeping with that tradition,” Pavlovich said to the applause of about 30 members of the group who attended the commissioners’ Sunshine Meeting work session.
The Fair Districts representatives who spoke urged the commissioners to adopt a resolution calling for the state Legislature to pass a constitutional amendment that would install a “citizens commission” that would oversee the redistricting effort to determine the boundaries of the state’s legislative and congressional districts.
The issue of redistricting and legislative gerrymandering reached a head earlier this year as the state Supreme Court, acting on a suit filed in part of behalf of the Fair Districts organization, declared the state’s congressional district boundaries unconstitutional. In a move hailed by the plaintiffs, it ordered the boundaries redrawn; observers said the new districts in the Philadelphia suburbs favor Democratic candidates over Republicans, flipping the advantage.
Chester County, which had been divided into three congressional districts, is now covered by only one — the 6th District.
“In the years ahead, candidates without a commitment to reforming how Pennsylvania does business are bound to hear about it at the polls,” said Pavlovich, referring vaguely to the sweep of county Row Office races by the local Democratic Party, a historical first. “Movement for reform is not going away.”
The commissioners thanked the Fair Districts representatives — including Pavlovich, staff attorney Lawrence Husick, and New Garden activist Cathy Dale — for their presentation but took no action on the request for a resolution.
Commissioners’ Chairwoman Michelle Kichline noted that the board’s lone Democrat, Vice Chairwoman Kathi Cozzone, could not attend the meeting Tuesday because of a scheduling conflict.
Because Tuesday’s meeting was technically a work session, the commissioners would not have been able to take a vote on any motion for a resolution. Kichline said she and fellow Commissioner Terence Farrell would discuss the matter with Cozzone later.
The Fair Districts presentation laid out the history of gerrymandering in the United States and the way that increasingly partisan meddling by both political parties has been responsible for even more geographically tortured districts. Husick pointed to the state’s former 7th Congressional District, nicknamed “Goofy Kicking Donald Duck,” that covered a portion of Chester County, and ran from the urban streets of Chester in Delaware County to the rural backroads of Wallace.
“Both parties do this,” he said, referring to the practice of drawing boundaries to support their political candidates at the expense of voters’ interests. “We the people should be doing this, not party bosses. This is game playing of the worst kind, and it is not good for democracy.”
The representatives noted that not only the state County Commissioners Association had endorsed the call for improving the way districts are drawn, but 20 counties had adopted resolutions calling for establishment of a citizens commission, including nearby Delaware County.
In the county, 23 of the 73 township, borough and city have adopted the resolution, including West Chester, Downingtown, Malvern, and Kennett Square.
In an interview Monday, Pavlovich said his organization was “very supportive” of legislation that has been introduced in the state House of Representatives by state Rep. Eric Roe, R-155th Dist., of West Goshen. The bill, which is currently under consideration by the House Rules Committee, would establish a non-political commission of 11 members — three registered Democrats, three Republicans, and three voters unaffiliated with either major party.
Roe, “has been a wonderful supporter of the citizens commission concept from the very beginning,” Pavlovich said. “We think his is a great bill.”
Currently serving his first term in the General Assembly, Roe formerly worked as a legislative assistant to Kichline. He said in an interview Monday that although he had discussed the redistricting issue with her previously, he had not been in touch with her or the other commissioners ahead of Tuesday’s presentation.
“I told her that this was a grassroots movement, and that I would be glad to be a resource,” Roe said. “I found her to be very openminded, and that the (commissioners) have not been hostile towards my bill at all.”
Roe said “the clock is ticking” on his bill, HB 2402, which has to be voted on by mid-July to comply with legislative rules. He said he hoped the Rules Committee would take it up next week.