STATEMENT: Democracy Defense Organizations Respond to Final State Legislative Maps, Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC) Proceedings
HARRISBURG (February 4, 2022) – Following the vote of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission on the final version of the state legislative maps, several organizations joined in the making the following statement. Those organizations include The New Pennsylvania Project, Better PA, We The People - Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (PBPC), and the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance (API PA):
“For the first time in decades, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC) conducted a fair and open process that produced a constitutional, balanced, fair set of state legislative maps. Chairman Mark Nordenberg should be commended for overseeing a Commission that went to great lengths to give the public the opportunity to be heard from the beginning of the process to the end. This is a very different situation than we've seen from previous iterations of the LRC, and the end result is a set of maps that better represents the commonwealth. There were compromises made throughout the process by both Republicans and Democrats on the Commission. The job of the LRC is not an easy one, but Chairman Nordenberg's effort to bridge the partisan divide is a model for how the LRC is designed to work. Any other conclusion about the leadership of this LRC is unfounded and inherently political.
“House Republicans, specifically, are trying to use cynical and false attacks on the LRC. The same politicians who have long ignored Latino, Black and Asian and Pacific Islander communities are now shamelessly trying to pretend they’re fighting for them. Nothing could be further from the truth. The new LRC House map increases opportunities for candidates of color to represent their communities, while also improving every other constitutional and good government redistricting metric. Despite all these improvements, nearly every analysis says it still has a Republican advantage, furthering the hypocrisy.
“Throughout this process, we’ve heard Republicans say that they want a map that follows the ‘natural political geography’ of Pennsylvania. The reality is there is no such thing as a “natural political geography” – economic and racial segregation is not natural; it is the product of decades of public policy decisions. When they say this, they’re using a fabricated principle in order to suggest a map that would heavily advantage them. Giving any weight to this idea is immoral, undemocratic, and unconstitutional.
“Pennsylvanians are fed up with these continued antics and want the legislature to focus on their interests, not the self-interests of politicians.
“In the end, this process was fair, these maps are fair, and all Pennsylvanians, no matter where they live, will benefit for the next decade.”
“For the first time in decades, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC) conducted a fair and open process that produced a constitutional, balanced, fair set of state legislative maps. Chairman Mark Nordenberg should be commended for overseeing a Commission that went to great lengths to give the public the opportunity to be heard from the beginning of the process to the end. This is a very different situation than we've seen from previous iterations of the LRC, and the end result is a set of maps that better represents the commonwealth. There were compromises made throughout the process by both Republicans and Democrats on the Commission. The job of the LRC is not an easy one, but Chairman Nordenberg's effort to bridge the partisan divide is a model for how the LRC is designed to work. Any other conclusion about the leadership of this LRC is unfounded and inherently political.
“House Republicans, specifically, are trying to use cynical and false attacks on the LRC. The same politicians who have long ignored Latino, Black and Asian and Pacific Islander communities are now shamelessly trying to pretend they’re fighting for them. Nothing could be further from the truth. The new LRC House map increases opportunities for candidates of color to represent their communities, while also improving every other constitutional and good government redistricting metric. Despite all these improvements, nearly every analysis says it still has a Republican advantage, furthering the hypocrisy.
“Throughout this process, we’ve heard Republicans say that they want a map that follows the ‘natural political geography’ of Pennsylvania. The reality is there is no such thing as a “natural political geography” – economic and racial segregation is not natural; it is the product of decades of public policy decisions. When they say this, they’re using a fabricated principle in order to suggest a map that would heavily advantage them. Giving any weight to this idea is immoral, undemocratic, and unconstitutional.
“Pennsylvanians are fed up with these continued antics and want the legislature to focus on their interests, not the self-interests of politicians.
“In the end, this process was fair, these maps are fair, and all Pennsylvanians, no matter where they live, will benefit for the next decade.”