— The loss of a local congressman through redistricting may not be easily measured in dollars and cents.

But local officials and business/marketing professors agree that a U.S. representative from the home area is a vital asset when trying to attract new business and industry to the area.

Of concern now is whether the 12th district, currently represented by Democrat Mark Critz, will be eliminated when the congressional boundaries are redrawn this year because of Pennsylvania’s population loss.

The U.S. Census Bureau, through its 2010 head count, determined that Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation would drop from 19 to 18.

And with Republicans in control in Harrisburg – where the new lines will be drawn. many believe that the GOP will eliminate one of the seven Democratic-held U.S. House seats. The 12th is a Democratic district.

“If we lose a congressman, we lose clout, and that makes it much harder to attract business to the area,” said John McGrath, an associate business professor at Pitt-Johnstown.

“You lose an advocate who makes a case for Johnstown for (new) business,” McGrath said.

But if the 12th district were to be eliminated, “what we don’t want to lose is the opportunity to have a new person to understand who we are and our priorities and our business priorities,” said Linda Thomson, president of Johnstown Area Regional Industries.

She added, “We’re used to having a congressman who knows us and works with us to move forward for progress.

“It’s important to have action-oriented outcomes rather than (a new representative in) a learning curve.”

Making region ‘a priority’

The region, Thomson said, has had a private-public partnership in building a diversified economy.

“We still need to continue that,” she said. “The whole point is keeping the momentum and progress we’ve made.”

The Johnstown region has had a local congressman for about 70 years.

The late Harve Tibbott, originally from Ebensburg, served in Congress in the 1940s.

Then came Robert L. Coffey of the Johnstown area for less than a year in 1948, followed by John P. Saylor of Johnstown for 25 years, and John P. Murtha for 36 years.

Critz, who was elected in a special election to succeed Murtha, has been in office for about a year. The earlier representatives actually were in other districts, with Johnstown and Cambria County a pivotal area.

Leaders of the Greater Johnstown Regional Partnership, a Johnstown business group working to save the 12th district seat, have hired a lobbyist to voice the city’s concerns with state lawmakers in Harrisburg on the redistricting issue.

Mark Pasquerilla, a businessman and president of the Greater Johns­town Regional Partnership, is concerned that the 12th – or at least a major portion of it – will be swallowed up into a district to the west.

A representative from that area could end up “paying lip services to our area,” Pasquerilla said.

“Once you put Pittsburgh, or its suburbs into the mix, why would somebody representing a broad region including Pittsburgh go to bat for (example) the NDIC (National Drug Intelligence Center?” Pasquerilla said.

“That’s why I’m so active in maintaining the district, where we’re a priority and where small communities are a priority,” he said.

Shifting westward

Some political pundits are suggesting that state Republicans will choose to merge Critz’s district westward with either of two Democrats in the U.S. House – Jason Altmire or Mike Doyle.

Altmire’s 4th district includes a number of western Pennsylvania counties, including a portion of neighboring Westmoreland County as well as some areas in Allegheny County.

Doyle’s 14th district is based in Allegheny County, with Pittsburgh at its center.

Randy Frye, a business professor at St. Francis University in Loretto, said: “My concern is if we redistrict, we dilute the political influence of Cambria County, and it could dilute our economic influence.”

Both Frye and McGrath hope that Cambria County – still above 140,000 residents even though losing population – would be a major population center in any new district able to continue to have influence.

But Brad Clemenson, who worked as a Murtha aide for 17 years, is concerned that the political partisanship in Washington, D.C., “is more of a problem (to be faced) than where a congressman is from.”

The changing atmosphere in Washington, along with new fiscal restraints, he said, mean the climate “is looking more and more that fewer and fewer earmarks will be allowed, if any. I see less and less prospects where a congressman can bring in federal dollars,” Clemenson said.