Gerrymandering Is Gerrymandering Is Gerrymandering
I live in Lehigh County and I should say upfront that I'm very active in the local Lehigh County Republican Committee. However, when it comes to district makeup , I do believe that we are best served when our representatives are elected from districts that are relatively compact and where municipalities/townships are kept intact. On that last point, it has always irritated me that the township where I live (South Whitehall) is split between three (3) different State Representatives, none of whom have South Whitehall Township as their top priority. For example, Ryan Mackenzie has Lower Mac as his locus, Zach Mako has Northampton County as his locus and Mike Schlossberg (even though he recently moved to South Whitehall) has Allentown as his locus. While the newly released map corrects that and puts all of South Whitehall in one district, it does so by splitting other municipalities/townships across Lehigh County. Some examples are as follows: 1) Allentown would be covered by three (3) Reps. instead of two (2). While this might make sense given Allentown's size (68,000 voters), it doesn't make sense that a much smaller Salisbury Township and School District (9,800 voters) is also split between three (3) Reps. 2) Upper Macungie Township goes from one (1) Rep to two (2) Reps; one of whom still would have Allentown as the locus. 3) North Whitehall Township is split and residents in North Whitehall 4 (a suburban/rural area) would be represented by someone who has West Bethlehem (commercial/city) as part of their district. The district map has to be elongated and contorted to make this happen. 4) Lynn Township (a rural, farming community in the northwest part of Lehigh County) would be lumped in with Lower Macungie commercial/suburban). 5) Residents in the southwestern part of Lehigh County would have a Rep who also represented parts of Northampton and parts of Berks County. Not only is this district not compact but it covers three (3) different county's. It is easy to see why this map passed 3-2 as it is gerrymandered in the other direction. I understand why the R elected officials voted against the map while the D elected officials voted for it. What is disappointing is that the fifth member who is supposed to be neutral also voted for it. If we say that the goal is compact districts that minimize splitting municipalities/townships, then the maps should reflect that! The one that has been approved does not. So Chancellor Nordenberg - please make changes to this map. Otherwise, gerrymandering is gerrymandering is gerrymandering. Thanks, Dean N. Browning