Partisan Politics still impacting redistricting in Arizona

Every 10 years, after the census count, states are required by law to create new political boundaries for their legislative and congressional voting districts. Essentially, what transpires is the politicians are able to choose their voters instead of the voters choosing their politicians. The practice is called gerrymandering and it is as much a part of the political process, in America today, as campaign commercials and high-flying flags.

Arizona political reform came following the AzScam bribery scandal in which 10 members of the state Legislature were forced to resign or were removed from office and sent to state prison. In 2000, they passed Proposition 106 that amended the state constitution and created an independent agency called the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC).

The purpose of the AIRC was to end gerrymandering and improve voter and candidate participation in elections. The proposition called for balanced appointments of citizens: two Democrats, two Republicans and an independent voter to oversee "the mapping of fair and competitive congressional and legislative districts."

According to Matt Capalby, a volunteer Democratic political consultant from Flagstaff, who has been involved with redistricting since the beginning, the AIRC was the result of some progressive, reform thinking by members of both political parties. One of the goals was to make it easier to remove politicians from office by making the political districts more competitive - districts in which a Democrat or a Republican would have an equal chance for being elected.

"The AIRC was assigned difficult duty," Capalby said. "In addition to creating maps for districts that would contain equal populations they also had to take into consideration other factors such as compliance with the Federal Voting Rights Act, respecting communities of interest, creating compact and contiguous districts and increasing competitiveness but not at the expense of the other criteria."

Arizona is one of the few states in the nation today that conducts its redistricting in this manner.

Over the months of AIRC proceedings, infighting and tension between Democrats and Republicans started to surface. There are about 3,000,000 voters in Arizona. Approximately 1,118,000 are Republicans, 957,000 are Democrats and the independent voters, who now outnumber the Democrats, comprise the rest of the electorate. Republicans control both chambers of the legislature, the governor's office, the two U.S. Senate seats and five of the state's current seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The strain between the two parties climaxed when the Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, and the GOP-controlled Senate , removed the independent chairwoman of the commission, Colleen Mathis, for gross negligence.

Mathis was later reinstated by the Arizona State Supreme Court who declared the governor and the state Legislature had no authority over the independent commission

"It is as difficult to remove partisan politics from redistricting as it is to remove money from the political campaigns," Capalby said. "The stakes are just too high. After the last redistricting go-round in 2000 there were a series of lawsuits by those who sought different results. We can probably expect some litigation after these maps are finalized, " Capalby added.

Things seemed to have settled down as the AIRC was preparing to send its final/tentative maps off to the U.S. Justice Department for pre-clearance to assure protection of minorities' rights under the federal Voting Rights Act.

Then the Republican Speaker of the House, Andy Tobin, presented his own set of alternative maps. Tobin said that the redistricting process was stolen from the voters and he was proposing a way to give it back to them.

In a televised interview with Ted Simons' Horizon, Toban said the the people in rural Arizona were particularly harmed by the AIRC map making but he did not elaborate or provide any specifics.

Instead, he left people in rural areas wondering why he did not call these serious concerns to the attention of the AIRC when they were asked for public input. Calls to Tobin's office were not returned.

Tobin also called for a special election, in May or June, so the voters could have an opportunity to review both sets of maps. The cost for a special election has been estimated to be around $8,000,000

Republican Senate Majority Leader Andy Briggs, introduced legislation that would abolish the AIRC and return the redistricting to the state Legislature.

Steve Muratore attended most of the IRC public hearings and published a blog under the heading of The Arizona Eagletarian. He also appeared as a guest on the PBS program Horizon to provide an analysis of the AIRC proceedings. In an interview for Navajo-Hopi Observer, Muratore said that, "Tobin's maps are inappropriate. He is attempting to bypass the legally established map making process and ignore the expressed will of the people for an independent commission."

Muratore also said that no one was completely satisfied with the maps that the AIRC's finally came up with. "Most," he said, "seemed pleased by the way the commission had conducted its business and the extent to which they involved the public in their decision making. You can't please everyone, Its called compromise."

Capalby looked at Tobin's alternative maps and smiled. "Nice try but they ain't gonna fly," he said.

Additional information on the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission may be found on their Website:

www.AzRedistricting.org.

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