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Tell Pennsylvania’s legislature to end gerrymandering now | Editorial

Tell the 24 House Republicans and eight Senate Republicans, who signed on as co-sponsors to independent commission bills, to pressure Speaker Turzai to do the right thing. They can't hide behind leadership anymore. They have to stand up or be considered hypocrites who talk reform but when it matters, play possum.

FILE – In this Feb. 4. 2009 file photo, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives at the State Capitol, is seen in Harrisburg, Pa. From New Hampshire to Minnesota and down to Alabama, Republicans knocked Democrats out of the majority in key state legislative chambers, making historic gains and seizing critical power to redraw district maps and influence elections for a decade to come. Pennsylvania voters handed control of the state House to the GOP. Republicans also held their majority in the state Senate and gained the governorship with Tom Corbett's win. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower, File)
FILE – In this Feb. 4. 2009 file photo, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives at the State Capitol, is seen in Harrisburg, Pa. From New Hampshire to Minnesota and down to Alabama, Republicans knocked Democrats out of the majority in key state legislative chambers, making historic gains and seizing critical power to redraw district maps and influence elections for a decade to come. Pennsylvania voters handed control of the state House to the GOP. Republicans also held their majority in the state Senate and gained the governorship with Tom Corbett's win. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower, File) Read moreBRADLEY C. BOWER / AP File

If the Pennsylvania legislature doesn't vote to end gerrymandering by July 6, residents can not only forget about a citizens' redistricting commission but also can pretty much give up on the hope of any needed government reforms.

As it is now, Pennsylvania's congressional and state legislative districts are among the most gerrymandered in the nation. Legislators from the party in power manipulate boundaries to dilute the power of voters of other parties. It's how they've gotten away with ignoring equitable taxation and fair school funding, failing to pass gun safety laws that most residents want, and passing budgets that are built on solid financial footing and not fake gambling revenue projections. They don't have to respond to diverse interests because they draw legislative districts filled with enough like-minded voters to keep them in office term after term.

>> READ MORE: Did your Democratic State Rep. vote for Pa.'s gerrymandered congressional map?

But the time to  fix this is right now .  Under convoluted rules, both houses of the state legislature must pass bills by July 6,  or we have to wait another decade to address redistricting changes.   A truly independent citizens' commission would draw state legislative and congressional district lines based on principals of fairness after the 2020 Census. They would do it in the open and not in some dark corner of the Capitol where political deals are cut. The commission wouldn't slice and dice towns to dilute minority party's voters or reach far into the hinterlands to create majority districts for the party in power.

They'd have to respect county and municipal boundary lines to ensure that people of similar interests, not political leanings, can choose representatives who understand the issues of their regions. Districts would be politically diverse enough that representatives would have to get used to considering differing viewpoints to come up with the best solutions to our problems.

>> READ MORE: Pa. gerrymandering's surprise co-conspirators: Democrats

So far, the Senate State Government Committee  released a compromise bill by Sen. Mike  Folmer but some advocates say the commission would not be independent enough. There has not been a full Senate vote on it. The House, under the leadership of Speaker Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny), is where the most tortured form of depriving the public its due process is occurring. On April 11, Butler County Republican Rep. Daryl Metcalfe's State Government Committee gutted a bill that would have created a citizens' commission and replaced it with an even more partisan committee than now exists.

Meanwhile, supporters of fair districts introduced an independent commission bill and House Majority Leader Dave Reed (R., Indiana) also has sponsored a fair district bill. They could fly only if Turzai assigns them to a committee that would pass them. That's possible if the 24 House Republicans and eight Senate Republicans, who signed on as co-sponsors to independent commission bills, pressure Turzai to do the right thing. They can't hide behind GOP leadership anymore. They have to stand up or be considered hypocrites who talk reform but when it matters, play possum.

Find their names and contact information at fairdistrictspa.com.  Tell them to push Turzai and Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati (R., Jefferson) to move the citizens' commission forward.

What are they afraid of? Democracy?