Politics & Government

Court: Redistricting Plan 'Contrary to Law'

The plan would have split Phoenixville Borough into two state house districts.

After traveling to Harrisburg along with Councilwoman Jennifer Mayo to protest the changes caused by legislative redistricting, Phoenixville Mayor Leo Scoda was very happy to hear of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision. 

The mayor headed to the state capital on Monday and by late Wednesday afternoon the court had rendered a decision: redistricting runs "contrary to the law," according to the ruling. The Legislative Reapportionment Commission must head back to the drawing board on state House and Senate districts. 

Reached by phone Tuesday evening, Scoda said he was "thrilled" with court's decision and particularly two aspects, with the first one being that the borough will not be split. The second has to do with the state Senate lines. 

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"We're so happy that we're now going to have Sen. [Andy] Dinniman back as our state senator," Scoda said. 

When the redistricting plan was , it moved the line for Dinniman's 19th District south, handing Phoenixville over to a district that mainly covers Montgomery County. Dinniman, Scoda explained, is a prominent figure in Phoenixville and has been a big help to the borough. 

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"When we need stuff, he's the first person we turn to," Scoda said. "We want to keep him as long as we can." 

In a last minute change, the commission took three precincts—Middle One, North Three and West One—away from the House district that covers the rest of the borough. The whole borough currently sits in the 157th, represented by Republican Warren Kampf. The split would have put those three precincts in the 155th House district, represented by the retiring Republican Curt Schroder. 

"We never had the chance to testify about that," Scoda said, noting that other municipalities, including West Chester, were split in the original plan rather than at the last minute.

At a recent borough council meeting, Scoda the plan could be detrimental to downtown. He received bipartisan support on pursuing an appeal, with the two Republican members of council voting to support the appeal in a unanimous vote.

Though Scoda stressed that redistricting wasn't a party issue, he did say that members of the county's Democratic Committee were very happy when they heard the news at a countywide nominating convention Wednesday evening. Twelve committee members from Phoenixville were present and he said they were all very pleased with the court's decision. 

"It's the right way to do it," Scoda said. 

In Harrisburg Monday, the county Democrats were represented by attorney Sam Stretton, who led an appeal of the legislative repportionment that split West Chester and Phoenixville between two House districts. 

Scoda said there were indications that some members of the state Supreme Court were not in favor of the plan. 

"I could tell reading body language there were a lot of people who were not happy," Scoda said. 

At one point, a map of a district spanning from near the Maryland border and up through eight counties was shown, and members of the Legislative Repportionment Commission were asked how that happened. 

"They couldn't really answer," Scoda said. 

The commission gets another crack at it, but for now all districts revert to the current plan, made in 2001. The ruling affects some dates for the Pennsylvania primary. While the primary date was not changed, candidates will have some more time for the petitioning process. 

The ruling also shakes up the plans of some who wanted to run for office. A newly created district in Chester County, the 45th, was wiped off the map with the Supreme Court order. In other instances, those running no longer live in the same district as opponents, as is the case with Tom Houghton, who was mounting a campaign against Dinniman for the Democratic primary. 


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