Representative Mike Turzai Speaker of the House 28th District Pennsylvania House of Representatives Media Contact: Neal Lesher 717.260.6495 (office) RepTurzai.com / Facebook.com/RepTurzai / Twitter.com/RepTurzai
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 13, 2018
Turzai, Scarnati Issue Response to Governor’s State Congressional Map Rejection
HARRISBURG – Speaker of the House Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) and Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati (R-Cameron/Clearfield/Clinton/Elk/Jefferson/McKean/Potter/Tioga) today sent a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf in response to his rejection of the state congressional map proposal presented to him on Friday, Feb. 9. The letter is as follows:
Dear Governor Wolf:
We are in receipt of your letter of February 13, 2018, regarding the map we provided to you and the public on February 9, 2018.
As you know, we received the order from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on January 22, 2018. As you recall, we met on February 6, 2018, at our request. In that meeting, you told us that you did not have a map and requested that we provide one for your review in accordance with your understanding of the order.
The Court issued its opinion on February 7, 2018. This opinion was delivered on day 16 of an 18 day deadline. Working together in a short time period, we produced a map that meets the Court’s order and opinion. It is constitutional and meets the criteria set out by the Court of compactness, contiguity, and respecting political subdivisions.
With all due respect, your pronouncements are absurd:
Your letter sets forth a nonsensical approach to governance. Quit being coy. You have had an expert engaged for over a month. You did a listening tour. It’s time that you produced a map for the public to review in a transparent fashion. Produce your map and we will put it up for a vote. We will assess how logical it is, how compact it is, and whether it unduly splits counties, municipalities and communities of interest.
Furthermore, we do not concede that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has the power to invalidate a congressional map (or draw new ones) that has been in place for the past 3 election cycles, that was upheld by a three-judge federal panel in the Agre case on January 10, 2018, and that was passed by a bipartisan vote of 136-61 in the House.
This entire exercise, while cloaked in “litigation,” is and has been nothing more than the ultimate partisan gerrymander – one brought about by the Democrat Chief Executive of the Commonwealth acting in concert with politically-connected litigants in order to divest the General Assembly of its Constitutional authority to enact Congressional districts.
We look forward to reviewing your “fair” map and are ready and willing to meet at your earliest convenience to see if, together, we can reach consensus on a “fair” map that can garner majorities in the House and Senate and that you will sign.
Sincerely,
Honorable Mike Turzai Honorable Joseph Scarnati Speaker of the House Senate President Pro Tempore
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