HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Thirteen citizens aspiring to lead the panel that will realign the boundaries of Pennsylvania's General Assembly districts to reflect recent population shifts made their cases Wednesday before the four legislative leaders who will make up the rest of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission.

The applicants for the chairmanship, who each were allotted five minutes to speak, included lawyers, business entrepreneurs, a former state appellate judge, a banker, a statistician and a maintenance planner at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, who presided over the public hearing, said he hopes the other four members can agree on a chairman by the April 4 deadline. If not, the chairman will be appointed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court by May 4.

Pileggi, R-Delaware, held open the possibility that another hearing would be held to take testimony from additional candidates.

Serving with Pileggi on the commission are House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, and House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny.

The chairman is typically paid a flat amount for each day he or she puts in for the commission. In the last reapportionment in 2001, the rate was $355 a day, and the figure is likely to be adjusted upward this year to account for inflation, said Pileggi aide Erik Arneson.

"It's a lot of work," Dermody said after the hearing.

The commission redraws the boundaries of state legislative districts every 10 years to equalize the distribution of voters based on the latest federal census, a process that is fraught with political tension as Republicans and Democrats weigh the implications for the next election.

The chairmanship is open to any Pennsylvania citizen who is not employed by a federal, state or local government agency.

In general, the applicants asserted that their backgrounds had prepared them for the job and that they could remain objective despite the political tug of war surrounding the panel. The legislators asked few questions.

But Dermody asked Eric Goetter, the Exelon Corp. employee who works at TMI, if he realized that the chairman would be expected to put in 20 to 40 hours a week on reapportionment work.

Goetter acknowledged that it might interfere with his regular job and he would "have to see how that would work with my schedule."