Fourteen individuals interested in serving as chair of the 2011 Legislative Reapportionment Commission will testify tomorrow afternoon at the Commission's first public hearing.
In January, the four legislative members of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission - Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware), House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny), Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny), and House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny) - announced that they were seeking applications from individuals interested in serving as chair.
A total of 28 individuals submitted their names for consideration. All 28 were invited to participate in tomorrow's hearing; the following 14 will participate:
-- Renee Amoore of King of Prussia, President and CEO of The Amoore Group
-- Jane Dalton of Philadelphia, Of Counsel at Duane Morris.
-- Michael Dimino of Mechanicsburg, Associate Professor of Law at Widener University School of Law.
-- Joseph Doyle of West Chester, Of Counsel at Mancini & Associates
-- Michael Gast of West Chester, former Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Genaera Corporation.
-- William Gindlesperger of Chambersburg, Chairman and CEO of e-Lynxx Corporation.
-- Eric Goetter of Palmyra, Maintenance Planner for Exelon Corporation at Three Mile Island Unit One.
-- Charles Keller of Washington, Senior Counsel at Peacock Keller.
-- Milton Loyer of Mechanicsburg, Statistician at Penn State University Fruit Research Lab in Biglerville
-- John McGonagle of Blandon, Managing Partner of The Helicon Group.
-- Lawrence Roberts of Uniontown, Labor Arbitrator at Lawrence Roberts Associates, Inc.
-- Lawrence Roskos of Forty Fort, Vice President & Portfolio Manager at National Penn Bank, KNBT Division.
-- Donald Russo of Bethlehem, a sole proprietor attorney.
-- Charlie Spano of Scranton, former Manager of Recruiting for the U.S. Census Bureau.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in Room 8E-B of the Capitol Building. Media coverage is encouraged. The entire hearing will be recorded and posted to the Internet.
The LRC is a five-member panel responsible for redrawing the boundaries for state Senate and state House districts to reflect population changes over the past decade as measured by the federal census. Article II, Section 17, of the state constitution names the four caucus floor leaders as members of the Commission.
The constitution calls for the legislative members of the Commission to choose a fifth member, who serves as chair of the LRC. The deadline for a decision is April 4. If the floor leaders do not reach an agreement, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will make the appointment no later than May 4.
The constitution requires that the chair of the LRC be a citizen of Pennsylvania who does not hold a local, state or federal office to which compensation is attached.
Previous LRC chairs include retired Supreme Court Justice Frank J. Montemuro, Jr., in 2001; attorney Robert J. Cindrich in 1991; James O. Freedman, Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1981; and Professor A. Leo Levin of the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1971.
