Politics & Government

Conversations with the Mayor: Redistricting

West Chester Mayor Carolyn Comitta sits down to talk about the borough's petition to the state supreme court about redistricting.

Mayor Comitta will petition the state supreme court along with several other communities in the state to overturn the legislative redistricting on Jan. 23.

Patch: Who exactly filing the appeal?  The borough?  Private citizens?

Mayor Comitta: What I have been told is that it’s not an appeal.  It’s a petition.  It will be considered and presented to the Supreme Court.  I’m not sure if it will be heard by the whole court.  It’s not exactly like we’re making this up as we go along, but it’s a process you go through only once every 10 years.  We’re sort of learning as we go.

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Patch: So then who are the petitioners?

Mayor Comitta: It needs to be individuals.  My name is the first name, and there are about 10 of us with myself and council president Holly Brown along with Bill Scott and Nathaniel Smith.  All we really needed was one or two people, and Holly and I were on-board before we got anyone else.  But we thought wouldn’t it be better if we had not just Democrats and not just elected officials, but residents from the Republicans and Independents supporting the petition as well.  So we have Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

Find out what's happening in West Chesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Patch: What are the grounds for this pettition?

Mayor Comitta: Number one is that the splitting of the municipality is in violation of the state constitution.  Gerrymandering is not illegal.  You can draw the lines to help your political party.  That’s fine.  However, the constitution says that unless absolutely necessary, no municipality should be divided.  What we’re saying is that clearly it’s not absolutely necessary.

Patch: What is the concern over the borough being split into two separate districts?

Mayor Comitta: The concern is that as voters we have a voice through our vote.  So it’s a concern of  disenfranchising people, number one, and the second concern I have is diluting the voice of the people of the borough of West Chester.  We have an urban area that has had one representative for 35 years.  So some people say, ‘Hey, maybe it’s better.  You get two representatives in Harrisburg looking out for your best interests.’  And I said, ‘Hey, if in fact that would be the case I would be championing that.  I would take all the voices I can get to speak on the best interests of the people.’ 

Patch: But that's not what's happening?

Mayor Comitta: Practically speaking, if the borough were put under two house districts completely then you would truly have two representatives who would have a voting block that they would need to listen to and represent.  What happens when you split the borough, you essentially are taking the voting bloc and dividing it not just in half.  Someone said,  ‘You know isn’t two better than one?’ And I said, ‘Well in this case I think one plus one equals zero, not two.’  A representative needs to address the needs of really all of their constituents, but practically speaking, you need to address the concerns of the majority of your constituents.  Well, when you divide the borough and plunk half of it into the 156th and plunk the other half into the 160th,  even if you like West Chester and care about its needs, you only have so much time, money and political capital that you need to decide where to put your efforts.  So as the representative for the 160th you will probably need to put them where the majority of your voters lie.

Patch: And there just isn't enough time in the day?

Mayor Comitta: It’s a matter of practicality, and how things function.  I’m sure if the borough stays split we’ll work as hard as we can with Dan Truitt and Steve Barrar.  But practically speaking, it’s difficult enough to get everyone rowing in the same direction with just one boat.  Now we’ll have two boats with maybe different destinations that may not have to include rowers from the borough.

Patch: So it's not about politics, then?

Mayor Comitta: People care about what’s in the best interest of the community and not just what’s in the best interest of one party.  So my concern is not only for the voice of the people of West Chester, but also if we’re going to survive and flourish in the future  we need our voices to be heard because no one knows their needs better than those voices in the community.


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