Thursday afternoon, the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission met. All but a half hour of the time was in executive session. Watch the video of the meeting here.
While in executive session, discussion focused on (according to the agenda) lawsuits currently pending in federal court and Maricopa County Superior Court. One of the issues apparently discussed was whether the commission would appeal the ruling that commissioners would NOT be allowed to invoke legislative privilege.
Ultimately, the question of legislative privilege is one that may determine just how much information plaintiffs are able to uncover to find anything resembling a smoking gun to prove their claims on why the legislative map should be deemed unconstitutional and the AIRC compelled to restart the map drawing process in time for the 2014 election season.
While neither AIRC members nor staff could verify that discussion, the fact that upon resuming the public portion of the meeting no vote was taken on the question of authorizing such an appeal leads one to reasonably infer that -- at this time -- there are no plans to file said appeal.
It is also reasonable to infer the appeal could be filed at a later date if desired.
Executive director Bladine advised the members that he believes it is likely the supplemental FY2013 appropriation authorized in January will be depleted by the end of this month (March). During the meeting, Bladine indicated he would draft a letter to legislative leadership early next week requesting additional funding for the current fiscal year.
Meanwhile, trial begins on Monday, March 25 at the Sandra Day O'Connor federal courthouse in downtown Phoenix. I don't know how many of the expected six days of the trial I will be able to attend, but will post as much as I can, as soon as I can during the trial.
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