Pennsylvanians need a fairer system

In May, Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler wrote: “… the voices of Pennsylvanians are driving all of our decisions .... ” Really?

In 2016, a bipartisan coalition of citizens joined forces to educate the public on the need for redistricting reform in Pennsylvania.

We held over 900 public forums, showing over 31,000 Pennsylvanians how gerrymandering — the drawing of legislative and congressional districts to preserve power for the party in power — distorts our democracy, allows true calls for action to be ignored, and vests redistricting power in just four legislative leaders immune to public pressure.

We drafted bills with legislative supporters to create an independent citizens redistricting commission with full public transparency (among the most co-sponsored bills in the past two sessions). We collected over 100,000 signatures and got 386 municipal and county boards across the political spectrum to pass reform resolutions.

We wrote, called and visited representatives to win their support. We documented 540 articles, 290 editorials-op/eds, and over 260 letters to the editor in state media supporting reform. Two polls show a bipartisan twothirds of Pennsylvanians support reform.

If legislators are “guided by the people,” why has leadership not voted reform for four years?

Recently, Carol Kuniholm, chair of Fair Districts PA, wrote. “We’ve watched ... as bills with one or two sponsors speed through ... without public comment, expert testimony or any evidence of public support. Friendly legislators explain, ‘the bills that move are the ones leaders choose.’”

Despite support from legislative co-sponsors, the House has adjourned. Blocking reform lets them again redraw the maps that control Pennsylvania election outcomes to their advantage, behind closed doors, for another decade.

We are not going away. We want a system, not red, not blue, just fair!

DOUG WEBSTER

Monroeville