by Damon Boughamer
Public Radio Capitol News, serving Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Penna. (PRCN, 14 June 2006) – The sponsor of legislation to change redistricting in Pennsylvania hopes the growing reform movement will give the bill a better chance.
Rep. Tom Tangretti wants to change the way state legislative and congressional districts are redrawn following each census. Currently, the General Assembly does it, and since Republicans have been in the majority for a while, they have controlled the process.
The Westmoreland County Democrat would create a nonpartisan agency to supervise it.
Tangretti says this is not a long-shot bill.
“There is a nature and an air of reform here in the Capitol. And I don’t think one can speak in terms of reform without talking – about the process, about the legislative process – without talking about reform of the reapportionment system,” Tangretti says.
The proposal directs a five-member commission to draw districts, using new technology, that respect municipal boundaries and are compact in form.
Ideally, they’d also factor in what Tangretti calls “communities of interest” – common economic patterns, school district boundaries, self-identification and media coverage.
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About PRCN's - Scott Detrow
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- Scott Detrow came to the Capitol from WITF-FM, where he covered Central Pennsylvania news and anchored local "All Things Considered" segments. Much of his reporting focused on the 2008 presidential primary and general election, as well as the Pennsylvania National Guard. Detrow has also covered New York City politics for WFUV-FM, earning a distinction from the New York Press Club, and won a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for a radio documentary on South Africa's AIDS pandemic in 2007. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Fordham University with degrees in political science and English.