This page was last updated on August 16, 2011.
Showtime; Editorial; Beaver County Times; August 14, 2011.
I support reducing the size of the General Assembly simply because I feel it’s too big. Consider, though, others may have a different reason to support GA downsizing.
Though it’s hard to tell with a Republican governor, a Republican majority in both houses of the GA, a Republican U.S. senator, and Republicans holding 12 of 19 U.S. representative seats, registered PA Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by over one million voters as of May 9, 2011. That said, a chunk of the elected Republicans would never be mistaken for the late William F. Buckley, Jr. Unfortunately, this is fairly common for Northeast Republicans. Likewise, many voting PA Democrats would never be mistaken for U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
In any case, larger districts dilute minority parties and reduce the likelihood a minority rep will be elected. That’s why some municipalities were forced to eliminate “at large” elections for city council, etc. and go to elections based on districts.
© 2004-2011 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.