Gov. Tom Wolf has rejected the redistricting plan presented by Republican legislative leaders, so expect some partisan fireworks in the next few days as Republicans and Democrats explore their next steps.

Wolf said he rejected the new map because, like its predecessor, it, too, is gerrymandered and does not comply with the state Supreme Court order or the state Constitution. “Partisan gerrymandering weakens citizen power, promotes gridlock and stifles meaningful reform,” said Wolf, who added that the Republican drawn map “clearly seeks to benefit one political party”: -- the Republicans.

Wolf and his team of advisors are planning to draw their own map, but, if this happens, say Republican leaders, they are headed to federal court. In the end, the task may fall to the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court, which voted 5-2 that Republicans had gerrymandered the process in 2011. As a result, even though there are about 1 million more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, the GOP controls 12 of the 18 Congressional seats. One seat, formerly held by a Republican, is to be filled in a special election in a few weeks.

Gerrymandering is the process of redrawing district lines to give an advantage to one party over the other. The term “gerrymander” comes from a Massachusetts governor, Elbridge Gerry, who signed a redistricting law in the early 1800s favoring Democrats over the Federalists. One politician said one of the redrawn districts looked like a salamander, to which another claimed that it was a “gerrymander.”

Republicans say they will file a federal lawsuit if Wolf proceeds with his plan or the state Supreme Court redraws the districts. They say that the state Constitution mandates that this task be done by the legislature.

Republican Majority Leader Jake Corman said the Supreme Court is on a constitutional collision course. The court has given the legislature until this Thursday to approve a new map. Corman believes Wolf and his Democratic allies are stalling so the deadline comes forcing the high court to act to break the deadlock.

Corman says that realistically there is little time to redraw the map yet again to meet the Thursday deadline.

The new plan proposes major changes for the five-county Times News region. All of the four incumbent members of the U.S. House of Representatives who represent the counties in our region would remain in their own districts, but the composition of the districts would change significantly in some cases if this plan holds up. Two of the four members of the House of Representatives who represent counties in our area are not seeking re-election. Charlie Dent, a Republican who represents the 15th District, is retiring, and Republican Lou Barletta of Hazleton has just won the endorsement of the Republican State Committee for the nomination for U.S. Senate in his challenge of incumbent Democrat Bob Casey.

The largest chunk of Carbon County, which had been mostly in Democrat Matt Cartwright’s 17th District, with the other part in the 11th District, would go into the 15th District, along with all of Lehigh and Northampton counties.

This proposal represents no change for Lehigh County, but it does for a portion of Northampton County, including the City of Easton, which is now in Cartwright’s 17th District. Historically, Lehigh and Northampton had been in the same district.

Schuylkill County, which is now entirely in Cartwright’s 17th District, would be moved to the 11th District, along with Lebanon County, most of Luzerne County, part of Dauphin County and the part of Carbon County not in the 15th District.

Monroe County, parts of which are now represented by Cartwright and 10th District representative Tom Marino, would become whole under the new plan and placed in the reconfigured 17th District, along with Lackawanna, Pike, Wayne, Wyoming and the part of Luzerne County not in the 11th District.

Several candidates, who have announced their candidacy to seek Dent’s 15th Congressional District seat, would no longer be in this district under the Republican plan.

The state Supreme Court issued its order on Jan. 22 invalidating the current congressional district boundaries and contending that they were illegally gerrymandered by the Republican-controlled state General Assembly after the 2010 census.

Democrats do not support the new map, agreeing with Wolf that it does little to solve the gerrymandering problem. Republicans, on the other hand, maintain that it does.

In a statement when the map was released on Friday, state Senate President Pro Tem Joseph Scarnati and House Speaker Mike Turzai said that the proposed map complies fully with the state high court’s guidance to create districts that split fewer counties and municipalities – 32 instead of 94 – and makes more compact districts. An example is the infamous ``Donald Duck kicking Goofy” district in southeastern Pennsylvania, which the Republicans say would be more compact under their plan.

Wolf has been skeptical that the plan will pass state constitutional muster because it was not approved by the entire General Assembly.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal by Republicans who wanted to delay implementation of a new district map until the 2020 election.

Christopher Ingraham, political analyst for The Washington Post, said the new districts show just as much partisan bias as the old ones. Citing work done by Brian Amos, a redistricting expert at the University of Florida, and map experts Nathaniel Kelso and Michal (cq) Migurski, their analysis shows that in 2016 Donald Trump received more votes than Hillary Clinton in 12 of Pennsylvania’s 18 districts. Under the Republicans’ new map, Trump would outperform Clinton by the exact same number in exactly the same 12 districts. The Republicans reject this claim, saying that their proposal is fair and equitable to both parties.

By BRUCE FRASSINELLI | TNEDITOR@TNONLINE.COM