Gerrymandering could be eliminated
Popular government in the United States has many problems, including its own unpopularity; under the current scheme of things, it is hardly able to function, what with the vast sums of money pouring into elections by secret, deep-pocket donors and election districts being fashioned to suit the needs of the parties and incumbents as opposed to voters.
Gerrymandering, whereby a politician picks his constituents instead of the other way around, has never been more alive and well; it threatens the very existence of American democracy.
Every elected official pays homage to our “free” elections. Americans have been told on occasions more numerous to fully document that free, unfettered elections form the core of our democratic way of life; it’s our bulwark, our strength; why, it’s the envy of the world, outside of the world of Vladimir Putin, that is.
But as long as we have schemes in place that are gamed every 10 years to serve the needs of a handful of politician-legislators at the expense of the public, all of these tributes to the blessings of democracy are window dressing, shams, fairy tales told to the innocent and the ignorant.
The good news is that something can be done to right this wrong. The bad news is it’s a heavy lift; herculean comes to mind.
First, the good news. Two Pennsylvania state senators — one a Democrat, the other a Republican — have placed a bill before their colleagues that would trash the thoroughly corrupt current systems of drawing legislation and Congressional districts in Pennsylvania with one that gives promise of rescuing democracy from the trash bin of history.
Their names are Lisa Boscola, an incumbent Democrat representing parts of Lehigh and Northampton counties since 1998, and Mario Scavello, a Republican from Mount Pocono. Scavello, a former Monroe County commissioner, has been in the Senate going back to 2004.
Together they have introduced Senate Bill 22. A companion House bill is expected to be put forward shortly by Democrat Steve Samuelson of Bethlehem.
The legislation crafted by Boscola and Scavello with help from the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and the state chapter of Common Cause is fashioned after the highly-credible non-partisan redistricting commission established by California in 2008.
It would do this: instead of the General Assembly, more particularly the leadership being in control of redistricting, it would hand the responsibility to 11 individuals, chosen at random, with as few ties to the established political order as is humanly possible to achieve.
Not only would the state legislature be excluded, but the governor as well.
Practically every criteria that is today part of the calculus for redrawing legislative and Congressional boundaries would be tossed aside. This includes the big number one: whether or not the boundaries favor or disfavor the incumbent or the party in power.
Computer technology is such that party professionals are able to produce district lines so finely crafted that neighborhoods — sub-divisions of sub-divisions — become part of the reckoning. It’s one of the reasons many Congressional districts swerve and wiggle so, and come out looking like they were drawn by drunken frat boys with complexes.
No more, under the Boscola-Scavello legislation. The redistricting commission they envision would have several simple mandates. Chiefly, commission members would be concerned with compactness. Are neighborhoods and communities and townships and counties that belong together kept together?
“It’s an excellent bill,” Bob Warner of Pennsylvania Common Cause told me.
“Basically (the commission would be made up of) ordinary citizens” without skin in the political game, Warner said. No officeholders, no family members of officeholders, no party officials, no lobbyists would be allowed to serve.
Those who created Senate Bill 22 know that it is practically impossible to remove every ounce of politics from the redistricting process. But it ought to be possible to reduce these to the bare minimum.
Without the undue influence of the parties and their big money patrons it ought to be possible to return some sanity to our politics.
Under the Boscola-Scavello plan, the days of “cracking” (splitting communities asunder) and “jamming” (piling as many like-minded voters into a single district as possible) would end.
Competitive election campaigns would return, and with it, a return to the political center. We should not expect nirvana, but actual governing — that is, problem-solving — might again be possible if state Senate Bill 22 becomes law.
The bad news, of course, is that party leaders are almost certain to oppose these changes. In addition, the clock is ticking on the countdown to the 2020 census and the Constitutionally mandated redistricting that follows the census in 2022.
Because Senate Bill 22 would amend the state constitution, it must pass both houses in Harrisburg in two consecutive terms before being submitted to voters in a statewide referendum.
You do the math.
Voter pressure on lawmakers will be indispensable to push the bill across the finish line. To learn how you can help out, a number of informational meetings are planned for Pittsburgh, South Park Township, Fox Chapel and Sewickley in the next several weeks. Closer yet are gatherings in Waynesburg and Somerset on April 19.
The Fair Districts Pa. website has details.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown and is the author of two books — “Grand Salute: Stories of the World War II Generation” and “Our People.” He can be reached at grandsalutebook@gmail.com.