ABC27 WHTM Pa. commission meets on legislative maps without vote

Pa. commission meets on legislative maps without vote

The Legislative Reapportionment Commission held its first meeting since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out proposed maps for the state's legislative districts, but adjourned without a vote after less than two minutes.

Commission members promised to have new proposals ready for another meeting scheduled for next week. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi refused to comment when asked whether the original proposal was tweaked or if the maps were completely redrawn.

The maps were thrown out last month by the state's high court, which ruled that the proposed boundaries of Pennsylvania's 50 Senate and 203 House districts split too many municipalities.

When the court told the commission it could do better, justices pointed to the work of Amanda Holt, a 29-year-old graphic designer from Allentown who drew her own maps on her own time and her own dime. Her Senate map split 50-percent fewer communities and her House map had just over 100 splits compared to the commission's 300.

"Citizens can make a difference and the checks and balances that are in place in government actually do work," Holt told abc27 News. "When something happens that's contrary to law, the checks and balances step in to correct that."

The commission has spent nearly a year and more than a million dollars on the effort and still hasn't finished the job. Pileggi bristled at questions about an average citizen getting the work done.

"It's not an essay contest where everyone puts up their best product and somebody decides which one of those is best," he said. "The obligation to draw a new map after the Census is the obligation of this commission."

But is the commission too obligated to protecting politicians? Holt focused merely on population numbers and keeping counties and towns whole. She paid no attention to incumbents.

"For a few hundred dollars worth of software, a couple hundred hours of her time, she did a plan which is far superior to the commission and she did it simply by following the rules in the Constitution and not worrying about the politics of the districts," Barry Kauffman of Common Cause PA said.