The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
‘Voter-proof’ districts challenged
Federal court trial regarding Pa. congressional map begins in first salvo against gerrymandering
PHILADELPHIA » A lawyer for a group of Democratic voters in Pennsylvania told a federal court Monday that it should throw out the state’s congressional district map favoring Republican candidates because it was created to be “voter-proof.”
Thomas Geoghehan noted that Pennsylvania is a swing state that supported both Barack Obama and Donald Trump for president. Control of power in the state has been topsy-turvy, alternating the party of governors in power, for instance, and electing U.S. senators from opposing parties. Under the previous map, congressional representation changed from election to election.
But since 2012, Republicans have won 13 of the state’s 18 districts in each election — even in 2012, when more votes were cast for Democrats than Republicans in House races statewide.
“They took data from Democratic wave years to make sure that even if there are Democratic wave years, this entrenchment of power is going to hold,” Geoghehan said. He described the shape of one suburban Philadelphia district, as others have, as “Goofy kicking Donald Duck.”
His arguments came Monday in the first day of a trial over the state’s congressional map. The plaintiffs say the court should not allow either party to create districts to boost any political party. That makes the case different from other political gerrymandering cases — including one that the U.S. Supreme Court heard in October but has not yet ruled on. Generally, plaintiffs in this type of case ask courts to disallow too much political favoritism in mapmaking.
A lawyer for Republican legislative leaders said the new theory doesn’t come up in any of the
Sports Turf of Pottstown. The police package UTV is available only to law enforcement agencies and was the first police UTV sold by the local business, police said.
“It is reassuring to know that the police department has the support of local organizations like VFW Post 1564 and the Jaycees and that these groups are committed to the betterment of our community through their generous donations,” said Sjostrom.
The vehicle is designed to transport people and equipment to difficult areas that a patrol car would be unable to reach. The vehicle will come in particularly handy for the department during such occasions as the Dogwood Festival, 4th of July celebrations and the annual Firebird Festival. In addition, the department will be able to use it for more common occurrences such as navigating the many trails and parks in the area as well as things like criminal apprehension, search and rescue missions and patrols.
“It’s been on our wish list for a while,” said Sjostrom. “The VFW kindly got on board with the program and when they made the donation they kind of knew that this is where it was going to go.”
Sjostrom said the department is in the process of developing a policy for the vehicle and that officer trainings will be taking place with the new equipment in the coming months.
In the meantime, Sjostrom will have the honor of showing off the new vehicle during the Phoenixville Christmas Parade Friday evening as it makes its way down Bridge Street.
The effect, McGlone said, was to make that district, which was previously Democratic, even more heavily so — and to make the neighboring district more heavily Republican.
He said other districts had Democratic areas split into multiple districts in a way that helped Republicans. He pointed to western Pennsylvania’s Erie County as an example. The county, previously represented by a Democrat, was split, with the city of Erie and the rest of the county separated into two predominantly Republican districts.
“If you can take a state that’s pretty even and you can get all the Democrats in only four or five districts, I would argue that you’ve done a pretty good job of gerrymandering,” McGlone said.
McGlone also analyzed data state House Speaker Mike Turzai had at his disposal during the creation of the maps. He said it included detailed local partisan election information.