HARRISBURG —
A Democratic state senator will absorb a huge swath of bedrock Republican territory north of Pittsburgh while the city of Harrisburg will remain in its current Senate district under a revised GOP-sponsored plan that a five-member panel approved Friday.
However, Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, bitterly criticized the plan approved by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission and did not rule out another state Supreme Court challenge like the ones that brought down the first Republican-drawn map in January.
“I’m very disappointed,” Costa said. “I mean, this process has been going on for almost a year and a half, and we actually are where we started from.”
Chief among his complaints were the changes that will bring a significant Republican makeup to the 38th District seat held by Democrat Jim Ferlo of Pittsburgh. Costa also complained that the plan drawn by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, split 10 counties strictly to help sitting Republican senators improve their electoral chances.
Pileggi insisted the plan squarely responds to the Supreme Court’s complaints – for instance, that three particular Senate districts had been given unusual and unwieldy shapes – and that his plan includes splits in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh that Costa had specifically requested.
Meanwhile, it reduces the overall number of county splits to 53 from 79 in the current districts and 67 in the plan struck down by the court, Pileggi’s office said.
The panel is handling the once-a-decade task of redrawing the boundaries of Pennsylvania’s legislative districts to address population shifts identified by the census. It includes Pileggi, Costa, the House Democratic and Republican floor leaders and a senior Superior Court judge, Stephen McEwen, who was appointed by the Republican-tilting Supreme Court.
Local impact
The new map will bring significant changes for two representatives now in Cambria and Somerset counties.
Meanwhile, the 35th Senatorial District of John Wozniak will remain primarily in Cambria and Bedford counties, similar to the map released in April, according to Eric Arenson, communications and policy director for Pileggi.
“Cambria and Bedford is John Wozniak, as it was in the preliminary plan adopted in April,” Arenson said.
All of Somerset County now will be represented by Sen. Richard Kasunic, Arenson said.
Rep. Frank Burns, D-East Taylor, will see the boundaries of his 72nd Legislative District pulled out of Somerset County and placed entirely in Cambria County, according to Bill Patton, press secretary for the House Democratic Caucus.
The 73rd district represented by Gary Haluska, D-Patton, will continue through much of northern Cambria County, but will be extended significantly into Clearfield County, including much of the area now represented by the retiring Rep. Camille “Bud” George, a Democrat.
“There were significant adjustments in the lines in Cambria and Clearfield counties, but it’s changes they (the representatives) both feel will make their districts easier,” Patton said Friday.
The House map proposed in April had both districts in long stretches through Cambria and Clearfield counties.
Patton said Haluska will continue to represent the areas in an around Patton and Northern Cambria boroughs, but a “large chunk” of the 73th district will now be in Clearfield County.
Tribune-Democrat reporter Kathy Mellott contributed to this report.
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