POTTSTOWN PA – A final 26-24 vote Wednesday night (Dec. 14,2011) in the Pennsylvania Senate confirmed months of work by legislators who created a new decennial map of the state’s congressional districts, which The Pennsylvania Independent online news service said had been “drawn in behind-closed-door meetings,” unveiled only a day earlier (Tuesday, Dec. 13), and conducted without input from the public or the state legislature’s Democrat minority.

Rep. Jim Gerlach

The process “has reignited a debate about the proper way to draw new districts,” The Independent reported.

The new maps must now be approved by the state House of Representatives, which is scheduled to vote on the measure Monday (Dec. 19)

Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township is significantly affected by the redistricting. It has been represented for the past 10 years by Republican Congressman Charlie Dent, whose 15th District primarily covered the Lehigh Valley. If the new maps are approved, as is expected, the township would be consolidated with the borough of Pottstown, and Upper and West Pottsgrove townships into a re-configured 6th District represented by Republican Rep. Jim Gerlach.

Gerlach’s district already includes Limerick Township.

Representation by one congressman of so many contiguous municipalities is seen as a boon for local governments and politicians who oversee them and, by extension, their constituents. Area observers believe uniting under a greater Pottstown banner in a single district better focuses municipal interests at the federal level on consensus issues like improvements to U.S. Route 422 and economic development.

On the other hand, it also means Lower Pottsgrove, which had been working with Dent’s office, would begin somewhat anew with Gerlach … even though local officials know and have collaborated with him before.

New congressional districts must be redrawn every decade following the national census to reflect shifts in population, but every state undertakes that process in their own way. Pennsylvania Democrats charged Wednesday that the controlling Republican majority unfairly chopped and reassembled districts in puzzle-like fashion for their own electoral advantage.

• Read a story by reporter Eric Boehm, titled “PA lawmakers say redistricting process unfair, seek changes” and published Wednesday by The Independent, here.

Other coverage:

• Pa. Senate Passes Congressional Map 26-24 (Politics In PA)
• State Senate approves congressional redistricting plan (The Independent)
• New redistricting maps ‘puzzling’ for many (The Mercury)
• Pennsylvania state Senate moves Congressional district map to House (Harrisburg Patriot-News)
• Pennsylvania’s redistricting map poised for Senate approval (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)