State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12, railed against the state Supreme Court's new congressional voting districts and took aim at municipal officials in Cranberry Township during his town hall events on Thursday.

About a dozen district residents attended the morning meeting at Adams Township Municipal building.

The evening meeting saw more than twice the attendance as the morning and began in Middlesex Township municipal building. Attendees we greeted outside by a string of activists holding signs protesting Metcalfe and his recent actions on HB 722.

Metcalfe kicked off the meeting by describing his recent efforts in Harrisburg, from attending informational meetings to his recent move to amend a controversial gerrymandering bill.

“We totally took out whatever was in the bill originally and replaced it with new language,” he said.

The amended bill creates a six-member commission, with three members from each chamber of the state legislature. Republican and Democratic caucuses in each chamber would pick one member each. The final two members would be voted on by the full House and Senate.

At least five members of the commission would need to approve the voting maps. If no consensus is reached, the draft maps would be voted on by the General Assembly without amendment.

Metcalfe also railed against the actions of the state Supreme Court, which recently struck down the state's congressional district map and instituted its own, after lawmakers failed to meet a deadline to submit a revised map of their own.

“They have no constitutional authority to draw lines. None at all,” Metcalfe said.

Metcalfe also fielded questions from the audience.

First up was Jeff Stirling, a United Methodist pastor and Adams resident aligned with Fair Districts PA, a group advocating to amend the state constitution to take redistricting out of the hands of state legislators.

Stirling stressed that Fair District PA's goals were not partisan, but that they simply wanted to see changes made to fight partisan redistricting.

Metcalfe disagreed.

One woman brought a copy of the Cranberry board of supervisors resolution in support of the original HB 722 and offered it to Metcalfe in case he hadn't yet seen it.

He said he wasn't interested.

“Yeah, the Cranberry supervisors don't represent my constituents,” Metcalfe said, to the confusion of a number of those in the crowd. “The Cranberry supervisors run Cranberry Township. They were elected in elections where there was minimal competition.”

He added that the supervisors did not represent Republican values despite what their party registration may say.

Metcalfe ended the morning meeting saying he believed his amendment was a step in the right direction.

Before the end of the evening meeting Metcalfe also took a question asking him what he believes to be the “homosexual agenda,” as he calls it, and how it would harm his constituency, as well as his opinions on open primaries.

A full story is available in the Butler Eagle.