Our Take: Final PA Legislative Maps Earn A Grade D-
Pennsylvania Is Gerrymandered Once Again
It is sad to see every cog play its part perfectly within a sick and twisted system. You hope that someone will rise above the lowest of expectations and do something extraordinary to break the greed driven doom-loop that we are all trapped in, but this did not happen. Everyone did exactly what they were supposed to do according to the laws of our cynical and corrupt political system, and Pennsylvania is gerrymandered once again.
MoH first clued into the plot in early 2017, as soon as we started talking with politicians about ending gerrymandering. The plan was clear: Democrats had spent $18 million in the 2015 State Supreme Court races to win a Democratic majority on the court so they could control the 2021-2022 maps. From the perspective of the people of Pennsylvania, the solution was also clear and simple: Instead of letting partisan politicians with glaringly obvious conflicts of interest draw their own district maps, let an Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) draw the maps.
“When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them that my job is to destroy democracy. What I do destroys democracy, I know it and I don’t like it.”
When we met with top Democratic lawmakers and the Democratic staffers in charge of drawing the maps, we were told again and again, ‘The Republicans gerrymandered us for decades, now it’s our turn.’ When we told them to disarm and end the use of map-making as a weapon, we were told that the Democrats couldn’t disarm, because the GOP would find some way to control an IRC and use it to hurt the Democrats. It didn’t matter how many policy safeguards we presented, the core issue was the prevailing assumption that one uses whatever weapon possible against the opposition, whenever possible, regardless of how it hurts the public. One top Democratic staffer confessed to us, ‘When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them that my job is to destroy democracy. What I do destroys democracy, I know it and I don’t like it.’ While most Democratic rank-and-file legislators supported an IRC, the party leadership refused to defuse the gerrymandering bomb, so nothing happened. The Democratic leadership had no desire to end gerrymandering, and they also had no power to end gerrymandering because they are the minority party in the House and the Senate.
When we met with top GOP legislators, we were mostly stonewalled with various illogical ideas. We were told that we can’t have an IRC because the US Constitution gives redistricting authority to the State Legislatures, to which we responded, ‘Yes, and the State Legislature can delegate that authority to an Independent Commission, which already happens in other states with IRC’s.’ We were told that the State Legislature is the most representative body of Pennsylvania, and can best express the desires of Pennsylvanians, to which we responded, ‘Yes, but you have an inherent conflict of interest in drawing your own district lines, you obviously need to recuse yourself from this task.’ We were also told, bluntly, that it just wasn’t going to happen. The GOP had every chance (and still does!) to advance a constitutional amendment creating an IRC, and they failed. They had every chance to pass legislation that would provide clear transparency and criteria to the process, and they failed. Despite the efforts of some rank-and-file GOP legislators, the party leadership had every chance to do something in good faith to end gerrymandering, and they failed. Our bills were gutted and replaced with nonsense in the House State Gov. committee, sandbagged by bi-partisan ghost amendments on the House floor, and poison pilled in the Senate State Gov. committee and then again on the Senate floor.
Democratic leadership’s consensus was: It is our turn to draw the maps, we spent a lot of money to take this turn, and it is our duty to take as much power as possible from them.
“Democratic leadership’s consensus was: It is our turn to draw the maps, we spent a lot of money to take this turn, and it is our duty to take as much power as possible from them.
The GOP leadership’s consensus was: It is ok if the Democrats draw the maps this time, because it is better for the power to draw the maps to remain with politicians than for it to be with an IRC. ”
The GOP leadership’s consensus was: It is ok if the Democrats draw the maps this time, because it is better for the power to draw the maps to remain with politicians than for it to be with an IRC. And when the Democrats do draw the maps, we can throw a public tantrum, attack the State Supreme Court, and mobilize voters (because nobody has anything meaningful to say to voters), with the added bonuses of spending millions in public money on our high priced lawyer buddies and wasting time to avoid passing laws that help people.
We negotiated with legislators behind closed doors, and we protested them out in public. Through the anti-gerrymandering fight, we went after Representative. Metcalfe, Speaker Turzai, Senator Folmer, and Governor Wolf. Throughout this entire process, we knew that we were demanding actions from everyone involved that fly directly in the face of the overwhelming culture of spite and power that is drowning us in absurdity and suffering. We pressured Democrats and Republicans to do the right thing, rise above the nonsense, and end gerrymandering, and they didn’t.
Our State Maps were drawn by two GOP legislators, two Democratic legislators, and a fifth member selected by our State Supreme Court (which is a partisan body, currently with a 5-2 Democratic majority). This process inherently produces the following types of corruption:
Incumbent Protection: The four party leaders in the room look out for their own, and protect their friends by drawing their opposition out of the district. For example, Rep. Joe Hohenstein currently represents the 177th District. Aileen Callaghan had declared that they were going to challenge Hohenstein in the upcoming primary, and then Callaghan’s house was drawn out of the 177th District by half a block.
Retribution: The four party leaders in the room use the maps to retaliate against colleagues who have the courage to defy party orders and stand up for their constituents. Because of the demographic reality, the Democrats had to push two of their incumbents into a district to run against each other, meaning that one of them would lose their seat. It seems beyond coincidence that one of those two incumbents forced to run against another incumbent is Representative Chris Rabb, one of the biggest anti-gerrymandering advocates in the State House. Also, current State Rep. Summer Lee, who is a bold thorn in the side of corporate interests, was drawn out of the Congressional district she planned to run in. And the claw-like line running through Lee’s home area makes Swissvale the only municipality split in Allegheny county.
Leadership protecting leadership: The four party leaders in the room look out for each other. Despite his public tantrums about the new maps, House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff saw his district grow redder and safer for him. While the GOP rank-and-file suffered from the undoing of the previous decade’s GOP gerrymander and shifting statewide demographics, Benninghoff’s seat miraculously became safer.
All of this corruption is inherent in our process.
We give this map a D- grade.
Just like in our last round of redistricting, our maps were drawn by politicians and people appointed by politicians, and there were no clear legal guidelines around transparency or criteria. This D- grade is an improvement from the flat F that our previous maps earned. This decade’s redistricting was certainly better than the last decade, but that is a very low bar to clear.
The solution to the problem of gerrymandering is as clear as it was when we started fighting this fight over five years ago: Create an Independent Redistricting Commission and don’t let politicians draw their own maps. We will continue fighting for an IRC, and much more, to strengthen our Commonwealth and take democracy where it’s never been before. Join our movement here.
We thank, as always, all the other groups in Pennsylvania that are fighting to end gerrymandering, with a special appreciation to Fair Districts PA for leading this fight.