Norco Council, LWV, Take Aim at Gerrymandering

Jeffrey Fox

The Bethlehem Press recently ran a series about gerrymandering and the bipartisan redistricting reform bills sponsored by State Senator Lisa Boscola and State Rep. David Parker. One long-time advocate of this kind of reform is NorCo Council member Peg Ferraro, a Republican. She was in the audience at a recent forum concerning the gerrymander at Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethlehem. She and Democrat Ken Kraft agreed to cosponsor a resolution calling on the state legislature to enact changes in the redistricting process that will prevent legislators from picking their voters.

Resolutions supporting the Boscola-Parker proposal have already been approved in Pittsburgh, Cumberland County, West Hanover Township, ​East Pennsboro Township, Upper Allen Township, Lower Paxton Township, Highspire Borough Council and Capital Region Council of Governments.

Northampton County will consider this resolution, thanks to a request from Slate Belt resident Jeffrey Fox reside. "Northampton County has always been a leader," he said. "You can be a leader in this effort as well by passing a resolution ... that puts the redistricting process back in the hands of the citizens."

In the meantime, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania has asked all candidates to state whether they support redistricting reform:

Pennsylvania is home to some of the most gerrymandered districts in the US. Unfairly drawn districts disenfranchise voters and make it more difficult for legislators to effectively represent all of their constituents. Would you support redistricting reform through removing elected officials from the process and instituting an independent citizens’ commission to draw the maps, changing where prisoners are counted, and/or implementing stricter methods of statistical verification? Please explain your answer.

Locally, most Lehigh Valley legislatros champion gerrymanding reform. All three state senators who represent the Lehigh Valley are on board, including newly elected Mario Scavello. The only state legislators who have failed to cosponsor gerrymander reform are Joe Emrick, Marcia Hahn, lame duck Julie Harhart, Gary Day and Ryan MacKenzie. Hahn has ignored several emails from at least two people on this topic. That's because she thinks she can pick the voters and not the other way around.

So far she has been right.