Battle still on for state edge in redistricting

Clearly some Republicans in Harrisburg are still smarting from their stinging defeat in the Great Redistricting Battle. And plotting their revenge. To review, the state Supreme Court threw out the Congressional map drawn up by Republicans in the state Legislature in 2011 based on the results of the 2010 census. Our elected officials in Harrisburg are tasked with tweaking the Congressional districts to account for population shifts as noted in the census.

The Pa. Supreme Court tossed the map drawn up by Republicans who control both houses of the Legislature as an unconstitutional gerrymander. In short, the GOP was stacking the deck, twisting and contorting district boundaries to benefit their candidates, in particular incumbents.

The state Supreme Court tossed that map and drew up one of their own, with GOP leaders kicking and screaming the entire way. Republicans were rebuffed at every turn in court in their challenges to the process and the new map.

Eventually, one Republican representative even broached the topic of impeaching the Democratic justices who voted in favor of the new map.

Lots of people believe the answer to this riddle, the fair way to draw congressional districts, is to get it out of the hands of politicians.

State Rep. Steve Samuelson, D-Northampton, wants to do exactly that. His legislation would create an 11-member commission of citizen voters to draw the legislative and congressional districts. Four of the members would come from the state’s dominant political party. At this point in time Democrats hold that spot. Four would come from the party with the next-highest registration numbers, namely Republicans. The other three would come from minority parties. Sounds pretty bipartisan to us.

The anti-gerrymandering group Fair Districts Pa supported the plan.

Yesterday it came up before the House State Government Committee.

See if you can guess what happened.

Currently, the maps are created by a five-member commission. The Legislature picks four members and the Supreme Court one.

The panel split along party lines on a Republican amendment to create a six-member commission. The Republican and Democratic caucuses in the two chambers would each get to select one member. That takes care of four spots. The other two would be voted on by the full House and Senate.

Gee, let’s see now. Republicans currently hold substantial majorities in both chambers. Who do you think they are going to tap for those final two spots?

Not only that, but it also would strip the key authority of both the governor and Supreme Court to approve the maps.

Committee chairman Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, no doubt still nursing the bruises from his knock-down, drag-out fight with the state Supreme Court, said the objective was to remove “unaccountable judges” from the equation.

Members of Fair Districts Pa. chanted “Shame” as they packed the hearing to observe the proceedings.

The group has held public hearings all across the state, and pointed out that this particular GOP plan was being rushed with little in the way of public input and zero public hearings.

Any constitutional amendment must be approved by both chambers in two consecutive sessions. And that is only to get it onto the ballot. At that point it must be approved in a statewide referendum. The earliest it could become reality would be for the 2019 primary election.

The key here should be getting this change right, not doing it fast.

And certainly not the way offered Tuesday, which amounts to more of the same, with the power in control in Harrisburg bending congressional district borders to benefit their own candidates.

The plan put forward by Metcalfe and Republicans would keep the job of drawing up the map exactly where it should not be – in the hands of politicians. And if Democrats were in power, they would be doing the same thing.

It is the irrepressible elixir of power, and one that needs a strong disinfectant.

This Republican plan is not it. Instead if offers more of the same, a gerrymandered map that in effect has elected representatives picking the voters, instead of the other way around.