tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post5304703404261026279..comments2023-04-25T13:20:01.724-07:00Comments on Arizona Eagletarian: Redistricting -- more on yesterday's meeting in TucsonSteve Muratore aka Arizona Eagletarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404761986345385458noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-32075109746262596022011-07-14T11:15:27.834-07:002011-07-14T11:15:27.834-07:00I am aware and have been working on a post related...I am aware and have been working on a post related to it. Thanks, AESteve Muratore aka Arizona Eagletarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01404761986345385458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-54232714005127869982011-07-14T09:02:41.565-07:002011-07-14T09:02:41.565-07:00Steve, Wanted to make sure you were aware of the ...Steve, Wanted to make sure you were aware of the article in today's Arizona Daily Star on page A2. See below.<br /><br />Pete Bengtson<br /><br />Commission<br />Story<br />(27) Comments<br />Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services | Posted: Thursday, July 14, 2011 12:00 am | (0) Comments<br />Font Size:<br />Default font size<br />Larger font size<br /><br />PHOENIX - A Tucson Republican lawmaker wants a special election to ask voters to scrap the Independent Redistricting Commission and return the power of dividing up the state politically to legislators.<br />Rep. Terri Proud complained that the current commission is biased toward Democrats. She said Tucsonan Colleen Mathis, the independent member of the panel, did not disclose her husband worked on the unsuccessful re-election campaign of a Democratic legislator, and complained that Mathis voted with the two Democrats on the commission to hire a Democratic-leaning consulting firm to draw the final maps.<br />Proud said the commission has shown little interest in getting public input before it redivides the state's 30 legislative districts and draws the lines for what will now be nine congressional districts.<br />Proud conceded what she wants would return Arizona to the days when the lines were drawn behind closed doors by lawmakers, whose prime goals included preserving "safe" districts for themselves.<br />"That may be (the intent of) other lawmakers," Proud said. "But that's not mine."<br />Anyway, Proud said, voters would make the final decision on whether having legislators draw the maps is preferable to the current system.<br />House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, said he and other Republicans share Proud's frustration because there is reason to believe the commission is hostile to GOP interests. But Tobin stopped short of saying the system should be scrapped in favor of going back to the way it was done before.<br />"I do not believe the voters want the legislative model," he said. Changes to ensure the independence and neutrality of the commission might be more well-received, he said.<br />The 2000 constitutional amendment, approved by voters on a 56-44 margin, set up the Independent Redistricting Commission, with four members appointed by the top Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate. Those four then choose a fifth person who cannot be a member of either party.<br />Commissioners consider population shifts, communities of interest, visible geographic features and existing political boundaries in redrawing district lines.<br />Mathis has conceded she neglected to mention her husband's work as the treasurer of last year's failed re-election campaign of Tucson Democratic Rep. Nancy Young Wright when she applied to be the independent member of the commission. But she said her husband also has done work for Republicans in the past.<br /><br /><br />Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/article_f20f062e-3c7d-52a6-8a11-87c075d1c716.html#ixzz1S5yAnjJtPetehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17024493708342438128noreply@blogger.com