Philly ADA

Two days until the big forum on Legislative Redistricting! Hopefully folks have spent their time studying up on legislative redistricting so they will come prepared to ask our panelists some tough questions.

In case you need a cheat sheet, we've put together a brief handout that we will distribute at the forum to help explain some of the issues we'll be hearing about. Copies will be available at the forum, but if you're dying to get you hands on one, here's a link:

As folks who regularly visit this site should know, the Philly ADA will be hosting a forum on legislative redistricting. WHYY's Chris Satullo is a panel member and today he publish a story on WHYY's blog "It's Our City."

His story begins:

"If the residents of any city in America should be familiar with the term gerrymander, it’s Philadelphians. Gerrymandering is the dark art of drawing the boundaries of political districts without any regard to logic or geography, but with a keen eye to furthering the election chances of a) incumbents or b) the political party that’s in charge of drawing the lines."

Later in the story, he refers to ADA as a bunch of "goo-goos."

For the full story, click here.

The Pennsylvania legislation considered last summer, HB-2420, was loosely based on the system now in place in Iowa. The Iowa system is widely regarded as a model process. After the 2000 census, Iowa turned its redistricting process over to its nonpartisan Legislative Service Bureau (the “Iowa LSB”). As a result of the district map drawn by the Iowa LSB, the 2002 general election saw competitive races in four of Iowa’s five Congressional districts.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of Americans for Democratic Action is proud to announce that Seth Williams, Dan McElhatton and Michael Turner have each agreed to participate in the ADA Candidate Questionnaire, a debate among the candidates for Philadelphia District Attorney.

All additional candidates for district attorney will be invited to participate in the ADA's first-ever, live "Candidate Questionnaire." The debate will take place on Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at the First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut Street from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

On May 29, 2008, State Government Committee Chairman Babette Josephs (D-Philadelphia) pulled HB-2420 from the voting calendar. Rep. Josephs justified her decision based on the objection of the Legislative Reference Bureau (the "LRB") to being involved in the redistricting process. The Pocono Record reported that "The director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, which drafts legislation requested by legislators, said he didn't want his agency placed in charge of drawing district boundaries because it would compromise the agency's nonpartisan nature." See Pierce, David, "Revamp is ahead for thwarted redistricting reforms," Pocono Record, May 29, 2008.

On March 25, 2009, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of Americans for Democratic Action will host a debate among the candidates for Philadelphia District Attorney. All candidates for district attorney will be invited to participate in the ADA's first-ever, live "Candidate Questionnaire." The debate will take place at the First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut Street from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Just as in any other policy area that attracts more than its share of wonks, legislative redistricting has a whole slew of terms that to the untrained ear sounds like a bunch of gibberish. Rather than try to catalog the entire lingua redistrica, we figure a summary of some of the more important concepts would help.

Below the jump, please find for your reading pleasure a quick tour of the lingo of redistricting. If you think we missed anything, feel free to add it in the comments.*

During the 2000 Congressional elections, Pennsylvania Democrats won 50.6% of the statewide vote. However, despite winning a majority of the votes cast in the 2000 general election, Democrats only won 10 of the Commonwealth's 21 Congressional seats. Under the district map then existing, the two major parties split the Congressional delegation almost evenly: 11 Republicans, 10 Democrats.

As a result of the 2000 census, Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation was to be reduced from 21 to 19 delegates. Seeing an opportunity to solidify the Republican Congressional delegation, national Republican leaders pressured the Republican-controlled General Assembly and the Republican Governor to draw district maps that would favor the Republicans in the 2002 Congressional election.

On January 10, 2009, DeWitt Brown, on behalf of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of Americans for Democratic Action, will provide written testimony to the Mayor's Task Force on Ethics and Campaign Finance Reform. As Mr. Brown states in his testimony "The ADA believes ethics reforms are worthless unless such reforms address the issue of nonprofits."

Philadelphia's non-profits have legitimate and important purposes that easily justify government grants and private sector donations. However, the ADA believes two issues merit the attention of the Mayor's Task Force. First, the City must provide oversight of the myriad of nonprofits and community development corporations that receive funding from the City. Second, the City must police the practice of using nonprofits as a method to circumvent campaign finance limits. Mr. Brown will elaborate on both issues in his testimony to the Mayor's Task Force.

The full text of the testimony appears below the jump.

Did you know that Philadelphia is home to the most gerrymandered district in the country?

In a study by the software firm Avencia, Avencia analyzed various political districts around the country and found Philadelphia's Seventh Councilmanic District, presently held by Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez, to be the most gerrymandered local political district.

Philadelphia's First Congressional District, presently held by Congressman Bob Brady, also made the list coming in as the country's 9th most-gerrymandered federal district.

Here is the link to the study.