Senate Districts in Adams & Berks Counties
During my tenure as president of Albright College in Reading, I met former U. S. Congressman Tim Holden and asked an associate why he was no longer in the Congress. His reply was simply, “he got gerrymandered out.” He said it much as one would say he got caught in a rain shower. These things just happened. It got me curious about the issue and brought home to me the odd reality that I lived in the old Congressional district seven, known as “Goofy kicking Donald.” The result of the extreme gerrymandering in Berks County was that we had four different U. S. Congressmen representing different segments of the county, and none lived in the county. These discoveries led me to get involved with Fair Districts PA when I retired in 2017. It has been a great learning experience but also a disheartening one as I’ve watched one reform proposal after another being sunk by the leadership in Harrisburg despite widespread public support and record numbers of co-sponsors of legislation. Despite these disappointments, it is encouraging that public awareness of re-districting is much higher, and our elected officials in Harrisburg are aware that the public is watching. Their efforts to open the process up to public scrutiny is commendable even if not as rigorous as might be desired. The proposed state House and Senate maps are an improvement in most respects, but more could be done. Compactness is much improved but could be better. Population equality is problematic for both House and Senate districts with only 9.28% variance in the House statewide and just less than 10% in the Senate districts. It appears that too many rural districts, particularly in the southwest are “overrepresented” with significantly smaller populations/district while more urban districts, particularly in the southeast are underrepresented with significantly larger populations/district. This needs to be addressed. Despite howls of disingenuous protest from some Republicans, all the independent analysts agree that the revised House map gives Republicans a slight advantage instead of the lopsided advantage they have enjoyed from past gerrymandering. The inequality in population/district likely accounts for some of the advantage. It is disappointing that the Princeton Gerrymandering Project finds only 17 competitive House districts, fewer than in the current map. Since I now live in Adams County (House District 91 and Senate District 33) and lived for 12 years in Reading, I will confine my comments to those two regions. Adams County Senate Districts: The LRC-proposed district 33 is only slightly better than the current lines. It is good that neither Franklin County nor Adams County is split, but linking the two counties in one district ignores history, culture, and geography. Adams County was created out of York County in the early 19th century. Although the Appalachian Mountains no longer present the impediment of the past, all the orientation in Adams County is toward York County. Since York County must be split into two senatorial districts, a substantial portion of the western side of York could be joined to all of Adams to form a compact and contiguous district of citizens who already relate to one another by history, family, business, and culture. Despite my involvement with FDPA, I find its proposed Senate map for this area the worst of all options. Berks County Senate: The current map is a classic of gerrymandering, with the County split into four different senatorial districts. Large chunks of three of these districts lie outside the county. With a population of +/- 420,000, a well-drawn map should contain no more than two senatorial districts with one reaching out to supplement the required population. Although the proposed-LRC map is a modest improvement, it is suspicious in shape and rationale. Note especially District 11 in the center of the county. It looks like Bart Simpson sitting on the potty. Why such an odd shape? Given the history of flagrant gerrymandering in Berks County, it raises suspicions. The People’s Map proposed by FDPA is an improvement, but it is still comprised of three districts. The ideal map would have the central and southern part of the county including all Greater Reading in one compact district with the second district containing all the remaining northern part of the county and as much as needed from contiguous communities to the west, north, and east of the Berks County line. I am grateful for the hard work of the LRC and the opportunity to offer comments. I hope my observations will prove helpful.