It's gerrymander time, baby.For Congressional redistricting, the dirty deed will be done by the state statute, with the blessing of the Guv. But for state house and senate seats, a five member redistricting commission, led by former Superior Court President Judge Stephen McEwen, will redraw legislative district boundaries for the next 10 years.
According to the Pa. Constitution, state legislative seats “shall be composed of compact and contiguous territory as nearly equal in population as practicable.” Moreover,“ unless absolutely necessary no county, city, incorporated town, borough, township or ward shall be divided in forming either a senatorial or representative district.”
Of course, the danger is that the real work of this commission is incumbent protection. But in an effort to be more transparent, commission members are thinking about holding hearings throughout the state. That pleases the Pocono Record. Its subscription area includes Monroe County, which is divided among five state senators.
Interestingly, the census data reveal that population has declined in western Pennsylvania. You can see it by legislative district in the spreadsheet below. While population has dipped in the West, it has skyrocketed here in the east. So if redistricting is done in a way that insures "one man, one vote," it's likely that western Pa. will lose several legislative seats.
Three of the five redistricting commission members are from Western Pa., so this is by no means a sure thing. But the new census data reveals that here in the Lehigh Valley, we might gain an additional member of the state house. Every district has experienced an increase in population. Reichley's district is up over 25%.
No wonder he wants to be a judge.
Here's the breakdown.
131: Simmons, Justin J. (R)- up 9.57%
132: Mann, Jennifer L. (D) - up 13.78%
133: Brennan, Joseph F. (D) - up 0.70%
134: Reichley, Douglas G. (R)- up 25.85%
135: Samuelson, Steve (D)- up 4.50%
136: Freeman, Robert (D) - up 6.93%
137: Emrick, Joe (R) - up 23.14%
138: Hahn, Marcia M. (R) - up 6.93%
183: Harhart, Julie (R) - up 8.44%
187: Day, Gary (R) - up 11.63%
The 24th legislative district, represented by Joe Preston and located in Allegheny County, lost the most people. It dropped a whopping 17.42% over the last ten years.
People must really hate that drink tax.
Pennsylvania Legislative Districts - Population Change
Reichley, in attempting to become a judge is running away from his responsibilities. He ran rather successfully for reelection to the house. The people respected the job he was doing and they sent him back to work for them.
ReplyDeleteNow he has betrayed that trust in his lust to be a judge and get 10 more years of of the public money. He has been on our payroll most, if not all of his adult life. The simple truth, in my opinion, is that he does not want to have to work for his pay every couple of years but would rather have the security of a ten year term with the protection of almost assurance of being reelected.
This man has shown his true colors by abandoning his so called "public service" and selling out.
I will not vote for him. I will do everything I can to spread the word that he is a taker no a giver, a greedy user out only for himself. His betrayal likens him to a union thug. "What's in it for me?"
Bernie
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone say this? Both Lehigh and Northampton Counties have been divided up even through the middle of towns?
.” Moreover,“ unless absolutely necessary no county, city, incorporated town, borough, township or ward shall be divided in forming either a senatorial or representative district.”
Now he has betrayed that trust in his lust to be a judge and get 10 more years of of the public..."
ReplyDeleteWhether one agrees or not, Reichly was selected to this very judgeship by those who voted him a state rep.
Hundreds of voters selected him for this new post.
Now, voters should have demanded he withdraw any second pension opportunity for this new candidacy.
Hey Bernie
ReplyDeleteAllentown has how many reps, five or so. Now around the downtown water cooler, Mann's name seems to be in trouble, especially now that she's
abandoned downtown residents and business owners. She could have been a voice for reason against the arena plan along 7th Street.
"He (Reichley) has been on our payroll most, if not all of his adult life."
ReplyDeleteThis actually may be true. Wasn't Reichley an assistant d.a., then ran for state rep, now for state judge. That's about 25 years or so. How old's the guy. This latest campaign looks like he asked himself, "How shall I retire?"
Is it possible he qualifies for three separate pensions?
If there's any truth to Reichley's double-dipping pension plan, believe the Rs will have trouble with his district seat. Voters are disgusted and exhausted with never-ending tax increases.
ReplyDelete6:16 Anon,
ReplyDeleteBear in mind that he did not win by that big a margin. MP got the most votes overall. I would think name recognition got him more votes than anything else.
I must agree with Trudie - What's in it for me?
Good post Ms Rowkowski.
ReplyDeleteOne would think that regardless of his past accomplishment this move is certainly self serving.
Two less votes, Doug.
Good post Ms Rowkowski.
ReplyDeleteOne would think that regardless of his past accomplishment this move is certainly self serving.
Two less votes, Doug.
Bernie -
ReplyDeleteI hear they plan to create a seat that even you could win!
If Reichley doesn't make judge he will be dead in the water on 2012. Let's make sure that happens.
ReplyDeleteor worse he could become a lobbyist
ReplyDeleteChris, It would have to be a very small district.
ReplyDelete6:34,
ReplyDeleteI don't think Mann was ever particularly interested in downtown residents, but she had no opponent in her most recent election. .
6:13,
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, the language comes straight from the state constitution.
The Gerrymandered district that kills me is the PA Senate 24th one for Bob "Yosemite Sam" Mensch that includes Easton. I'd bet all the bullets in his pistol that he doesn't know where the hell Easton is.
ReplyDeleteWill there be a special election for Bob Freeman's seat if rumors of his passing are confirmed? He's been seen alive fewer times than Elvis. Easton has little, if any state representation in either legislative body.
"Allentown has how many reps, five or so. Now around the downtown water cooler, Mann's name seems to be in trouble, especially now that she's
ReplyDeleteabandoned downtown residents and business owners. She could have been a voice for reason against the arena plan along 7th Street."
How terrible!...Mann has the stroke to help bring in a downtown arena, and all the jobs, revenues, and amenities that come with it!...how dare she!...I mean, those businesses are obviously at the forefront of a downtown re-vitalization!
What a shame that hundreds of millions of dollars of development are going to derail that progress!..I’m certain that once the project is complete, and millions of dollars of new revenues are pouring into the city coffers, she’ll DEFINITELY be in big trouble!
Really, are you in your right mind?...just let the downtown go on as it always has, at it will magically turn around…next you’ll be saying that the mills are coming back.
You have a state rep who is actually trying to make something big happen for our city, and you crap all over it.
Pathetic.
Dear 2:11,
ReplyDeleteThis surprises you? If you are on bernie's shit list, no matter what you do, he craps on you..LOL, makes sense, right?
Dear 2:11,
ReplyDeleteThis surprises you? If you are on bernie's shit list, no matter what you do, he craps on you..LOL, makes sense, right?
Sorry about the double post..If everybody who hates bernie's posts would get together and find someone that's not evil to do a blog then all would be well in mudville...However, we haven't so we need to stop crying and deal with it.....
ReplyDeleteMy thinking is Forks township is taken from Emrick and put into freemans district.
ReplyDeletedanthemann
most of the comments have nothing to do with your point about the LV being due additional representation. I guess your readers have to spend their time griping about people elected by voters to do a job. Some people just don't like democracy. If you don't like Reichley/Mann/Freeman... don't vote for them. But they won, so guess what... they serve!
ReplyDeleteTo the point, with the redistricting largely being a reflection of incumbency protection, expect lines to get moved to protect the incumbents. Simmons will probably lose parts of S. Allentown, with Mann picking up many of those precincts and perhaps losing a few center city precincts to Brennan, who will lose a couple of his S Beth princincts to Samuelson. Expect Day to have parts of Reichley's district added to his and parts of Berks County to be shaved off. These are the kinds of changes to expect. There might be one more state rep added to the LV mix, but I have a feeling all we will see is a decrease of LV based legislators serving places outside of the LV.
Perhaps the article should be refocused to "which incumbent will get the greatest protection." Considering Simmons is young, a freshman and faced no real general election competition in 2010, expect him to get the greatest protection.
Simmons no competition? Horton was a West Point grad, VP of two Fortune 500 companies, and spent $600,000 in Union money. Difference was Simmons worked for it. Horton thought he deserved it.
ReplyDeleteanon 3:54, please save your post so you can see how really really wrong you are when the new plan is signed off in the fall. Look for 3 new PA house seats in the eastern part of PA. Also, expect 1 new PA senate seat in the east. East PA has dramatic increase in population while west PA has dipped.
ReplyDeleteReichley is a very good public servant and so are the rest of our current state LV officeholders. I do not agree with any of them "all of the time" but who can ever do so? I'm glad for anybody who puts their time in for possible public service consideration. You can't win if you don't run is my motto and you can't lose if you do run because people respect you for having tried, has always been my opinion. If you think you can do better than others, throw your hat in the ring otherwise, take a hike.
ReplyDeleteLarry, darling, once again your senine mind missed the point. Dougie boy has been on the public dole all his life. If he gets elected judge he'll need a financial guru to figure out his screwing of the people of lehigh county. Public service my ass. self serving political slut is more like it. 3 less votes
ReplyDelete