HARRISBURG, Pa. — Local officials and political candidates Monday urged additional changes to a tentative legislative redistricting plan as a state panel wound up two days of public hearings.
More than a dozen people voiced concern to the Legislative Reapportionment Commission about details of the evolving plan. An earlier version was rejected by the state Supreme Court in January, forcing this year's races for state House and Senate to be based on maps drawn a decade ago.
One of the most unpopular proposals would divide the city of Harrisburg and some of its suburbs into separate Senate districts — a move critics said smacks of partisan gerrymandering and violates the state constitutional requirement that counties and municipalities be split only if "absolutely necessary."
"Political goals produce partisan results," said Patty Kim, a Harrisburg City Council member and a Democratic candidate for the House.
Also drawing criticism were plans to move two districts to other regions of the state. One would relocate a Clearfield County district in the state's rural center to Chester County in suburban Philadelphia; the other would move the Senate district of GOP Sen. Jane Orie across the state from Allegheny County to fast-growing Monroe County along the New Jersey border.
The Clearfield district has been represented for decades by Rep. Bud George, a Democrat who is retiring when his term ends later this year. Orie, recently convicted of corruption and forgery, has said she plans to resign from the Senate by May 21.
Members of the redistricting panel from both parties said they hope to agree on a final plan by the end of the month.
The new maps are required by the constitution every 10 years to ensure equal representation in the 203 House districts and 50 Senate districts, based on the results of the latest census.
The redistricting panel comprises four legislators — the Republican and Democratic floor leaders from both chambers — and a judge appointed by the state Supreme Court after the leaders could not agree on a chairman.