The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
An Arizona voter referendum passed in 2000 that was intended to take politics out of the redistricting process has instead been turned into a massive political firestorm with Gov. Brewer’s and the AZ State Senate’s impeachment of Independent Redistricting Commission chairperson Colleen Mathis.
"The initiative was designed to prevent exactly what the governor and the Senate seek to accomplish with the removal of the chair," attorney Tim Hogan of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest wrote in a filing Thursday on behalf of Dennis Burke, Ann Eschinger and Bart Turner. "It was intended to create a commission beyond the reach of raw political power of the sort exercised in this case."
http://www.azcentral.com/...
A flurry of briefs have been filed with the AZ Supreme Court from many groups and people including a 44 page response from Gov. Brewer that throws in everything except the Sunday funnies to a bipartisan group that includes Common Cause. The deadline for briefs was Friday.
One of Brewer’s contentions in asking for impeachment of Colleen Mathis, the now impeached chairperson of the AIRC, was that she did not follow the law in regards to the redistricting process.
On the contrary:
The bipartisan Grand Canyon Institute said Brewer and the Senate overstepped their authority by removing Mathis.
In a 10-page analysis, the Phoenix-based think tank said the commission's draft legislative and congressional district maps pass constitutional muster, even if they don't please everyone.
The commission is required to consider six criteria, including the federal Voter Rights Act, jurisdictional boundaries and competitiveness.
http://www.azcentral.com/...
Other briefs have been filed contending that Gov. Brewer violated the law by making her own definitions of gross misconduct and failing to provide any such proof, a brief that says she was subverting the intent of the voters and one that says state legislators themselves violated the open meetings law by failing to post 24 hours notice of their special session that ended in Mathis'’ impeachment.
Brewer's "misinterpretation and abuse of the removal provision subverts the entire purpose and objective of the initiative," said the brief filed Thursday by Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest attorneys on behalf of current or former leaders of the League of Women Voters of Arizona, Arizona Common Cause and Valley Citizens League.
http://www.kvoa.com/...
A bipartisan group of public policy makers filed a court brief Friday arguing that Brewer failed to provide evidence of "gross misconduct" or "substantial neglect of duty" on the part of Mathis
The brief from former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson, former state lawmakers Susan Gerard and Roberta Voss, and attorney Lucia Howard also claims the governor and senators violated the state's Open Meeting Law by failing to give 24 hours' notice of the Nov. 1 special session where they voted to remove Mathis.
For some more of the briefs :
Redistricting -- More friends of the Court
Az elected officials have made a mockery of the will of the voters to keep politics out of the redistricting process. It shows their obvious disdain to those whom they depend on to put them in office.
I have come to expect nothing less from them since they overturned the voter initiative for medical marijuana that passed by over two thirds of voters in 1996. We had to pass another referendum to keep them from doing that again, but it still didn’t stop Gov. Brewer from putting a halt to dispensaries after we passed it again last year. The people quite honestly can never keep up by voter referendum of the many ways our state can find to violate the will of the people.
In 1996, voters passed Arizona's first medical marijuana measure – Proposition 200 – by a 2-1 vote, but the State Legislature was able to stop it from being implemented. Two years later, the Voter Protection Act was passed, and that prohibits state legislators from changing a voter-approved initiative without a three-quarter supermajority.
http://www.opposingviews.com/...
The AZ Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for Thursday on the commission's lawsuit seeking to reinstate Mathis.
Obviously the will of the people means very little to Gov. Brewer and our State Legislature. The IRC was created by the voters to prevent exactly what has happened. We have no more recourse at this point but the courts and voting their asses out of office. So much for trying to keep politics out of the process.
4:27 PM PT: I know you can never really take politics out of the redistricting process, but the voters were tired of exactly these kids of tactics and shenanigans when we passed the referendum. The position is unpaid. Another complaint from the Repubs has been that Mathis' spouse is a Democrat, so now they intend to ask party affiliation of spouses from anyone who seeks the position. Also, Brewer cut off money for Mathis' attorney saying she was no longer a state employee.