The long awaited Arizona Supreme Court opinion -- spelling out the reasoning behind its decision to reinstate Colleen Coyle Mathis to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission in November 2011 -- will be, according to an email from the court's chief communications officer, released tomorrow morning. I will post the document for all to read.
Last week, however, the AIRC filed its brief in response to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery's appeal of Judge Dean Fink's ruling on the Open Meeting issue. Though Montgomery wants to frame the situation as one where the AIRC seeks to keep secrets from the people of Arizona, the primary issue may just be the importance of insulating the commission from parochial and partisan interests. We saw the GOP supermajority in the Arizona Legislature, UNfair Trust and Tea Partisans dramatically trying to interfere with independent redistricting over the last 16 or so months.
Ultimately, we are likely to also see, sooner than later, another call for a supplemental appropriation to ensure the AIRC is able to defend itself from additional interference as UNfair Trust last week gave notice of its desire to initiate a court challenge to the final maps.
Isn't it wonderful of UNfair Trust to waste our tax dollars? The Justice Department has given pre-clearance. No court, not even the Supreme Court, will mess with that. But UNfair Trust doesn't care and it doesn't care about the money taxpayers will have to spend so as AIRC can defend the maps in court.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping the court throws UNfair Trust out on their butts.