Doyle Heffley, Hero of Carbon County

Before I go any further, I should note that I am a member of the National Sarcasm Society.  

Representative Heffley announced that he had voted against the final reapportionment plan proposed by the legislature.  According to an article in yesterday’s Times News, Mr. Heffley didn’t like the fact that Summit Hill was taken out of his district, and said, “Although I would have preferred to continue to represent the entire county, that was not possible according to the rules governing the redistricting process.”

Let me explain how this works.  If you are the majority leader in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, you know exactly how many votes you need to pass a bill.  Let’s say you have five more than you need.  One of your caucus members has been accused of blindly following the party line, and he needs to show some independence.  You have votes to spare, so you permit him to vote no.  

This is done both at the national and state levels.  If the reapportionment bill needed Heffley’s vote, he would have followed orders.  If you want to see a courageous vote, look for one where a legislator bucks his party’s position, votes no, and defeats the bill.  That takes some cajones.