FEARFUL OF FAIR ELECTIONS PA GOP SEEKS TO CHANGE PA CONSTITUTION TO RETAIN MAJORITY IN PERPETUITY!
It is hard to grasp how, after languishing in the State Government Committee for almost a year with no action, HB722 (to form an independent commission for future Congressional and State redistricting)...a bill with well over a hundred co-sponsors (including Republicans), could be essentially amended out of existence by that Committee on a purely party line vote. But, that's what happened in yesterday's stealth vote called by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe! The fact that shortly before this vote, the prime sponsor had petitioned to have the bill removed from the committee due to inaction, makes this secretive vote all the more nefarious. Please make phone calls inquiring, how Rep. Metcalfe, and his dutiful Party committee members--behaving as they do--think the Generally Assembly would be more responsive to the people of the Commonwealth than would an independent commission?!!
These Republican lawmakers gutted a bi-partisan bill designed to make the future redistricting process more fair, and instead called for an amendment to the PA Constitution to make the process even more partisan than it was before. They seek to weaken any potential oversight, cutting out the Governor and the Supreme Court, and to enshrine partisan gerrymandering in our State's Constitution. These are some of the same legislators who are pushing to impeach PA Supreme Court Justices who determined our previous Congressional Districts Map was unconstitutional due to the extent of its unfair partisan bias.
The graphic above shows the "yeas" (every majority party member!) who voted to amend, gut, and turn this bill for a fair democratic process in Pennsylvania, into a method to amend the PA Constitution to assure that the GOP retains majority status in perpetuity. They evidently do not know they should be feeling ashamed...please call to tell them!
Please stay apprised of what is going on behind closed doors in our Capitols. Make sure other people know this the way the GOP intends to stay in power! We must stand up for fairness. Watch for alerts regarding other related actions. Democracy is critically ill in this State and in this Country. Inaction will help it die!