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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| State Rep. Bill DeWeese |
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DeWeese: Greene County suffers historical severing in redistricting
HARRISBURG, Dec. 21 – State Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Fayette/Greene/Washington, said the severing of Greene County into two congressional districts – each currently represented by Republicans living far away -- breaks with a three-centuries-old tradition.
“To the best of my knowledge, Greene County has been an un-dissected geographic and political entity since the American Revolution,” said DeWeese. “The current plan violates that tradition in a big, and in my view unnecessary, way.”
The plan, which DeWeese said was a product of Republican dominance in both chambers of the state legislature, puts eastern Greene County into the 9th Congressional District of Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, and the rest of the county in the 18th Congressional District of Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy.
DeWeese said that Shuster hails from Hollidaysburg, Pa., in Blair County, which is 140 miles from the Greene County seat of Waynesburg. DeWeese said that Murphy lives in the wealthy Pittsburgh suburb of Upper St. Clair, which is 40 miles from Waynesburg but is a world away in terms of social and economic similarity.
“The splitting of Greene County did not have to happen,” said DeWeese. “This was done promiscuously to benefit the GOP, and it shows what happens when Republicans control all three branches of state government, as well as all three layers of the state court system.”
DeWeese said the partition between two Republicans of Greene County, where Democrats dominate in voter registration, will dilute the county’s federal clout, in addition to requiring county officials to work with two sets of congressional staff on matters of local importance.
Noting that Republican Gov. Tom Corbett carried Greene County by a slim margin in last year’s gubernatorial election, DeWeese said, “I wonder if this type of blatant gerrymandering, which sacrifices Greene County on the altar of GOP supremacy, is how Corbett and his Republican allies who control the process are showing their thanks.”