Draw the line on redistricting

The Times Leader
March 3, 2010

THE MANEUVERING to replace the late U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, highlights a political abuse in dire need of reform in Pennsylvania.

Murtha's 12th Congressional District is a gerrymandered mess. The shape of the district looks like a mutant, one-legged lobster with an oversize claw. It covers portions of nine counties.

The district's boundaries were drawn a decade ago to ensure that the powerful Murtha wouldn't have serious competition at election time. Ironically, Republicans controlled reapportionment at the time. They, too, enjoyed the fruits of Murtha's power in Washington and wanted to keep him in office.

Partisan redistricting isn't isolated to Murtha's district, or to Pennsylvania. But the Keystone State is one of the worst practitioners of this destructive habit.

The Legislature controls redistricting every 10 years, after the census is completed. Depending on which party is in power, the boundaries of state legislative districts also are sliced and diced to benefit incumbents.

Gerrymandering divides communities, confuses voters and protects incumbents. It also tends to produce a Legislature that's more partisan and less cooperative, as each party's base becomes more important to legislators' re-election.

There's still a slim chance that legislators in Harrisburg could reform the redistricting process in time for the new legislative maps to take shape for elections in 2012. It would require the Legislature to approve a law this year and, early next year, to put before voters a constitutional amendment in the 2011 primaries.

Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, has sponsored a bill that would improve the process by requiring more transparency in reapportionment, such as more public hearings and data posted online. It doesn't go as far as seeking a constitutional amendment, but that's what is needed.

This legislation should be strengthened to prevent the redistricting commission, appointed by party leaders, from engaging in finely tuned partisan science.