AIRC public hearing in Tucson this morning – your testimony is requested

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Bad facts make bad law. Compromise solely for the sake of compromise leads to bad results (and unintended consequences). Compromise is only a means to an end, not an end unto itself.

I am speaking to AIRC chairwoman Colleen Mathis who proposed on Monday what is being dubbed a "donut hole" congressional map which is a transparent attempt to try to please everyone with a compromise that will please no one in the end. Ms. Mathis, it is impossible to please everyone, so do not try. You have to do what is just and what is fair and what the law requires of you. Whatever the AIRC produces is going to be litigated in court. If you follow my advice, your work will be sustained by the DOJ and the courts.

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports today Redistricting chairwoman pushes ‘donut hole’ map for congressional districts:

The chairwoman of the Independent Redistricting Commission wants the panel to take a fill-in-the-blanks approach to re-mapping the state’s political districts, asking her fellow commissioners to tentatively adopt a map that leaves blank nearly the entire Phoenix metro area, which would include four of the state’s nine congressional districts.

Colleen Mathis said she wanted the commission to use what she called the “everything bagel” or “donut hole” map, which includes three border districts and two rural districts.

The only Valley district laid out in the map is majority-minority district anchored in south Phoenix. Mathis’ map also includes a proposed “river district,” which would follow the length of the Colorado River and include Yavapai County, and another rural district that covers the rest of northern Arizona and stretches all the way to the Mexican border in Cochise County.

* * *

“There were great aspects in all of the maps that we’ve created, I think,” Mathis said today during a commission meeting in Casa Grande. “My primary goal really is so that we can begin to work off one map.”

The commission didn’t vote on whether to adopt Mathis’ map and will revisit the issue at Tuesday’s meeting in Tucson.

* * *

Freeman said he looked forward to filling in the hole in the bagel, and suggested some changes, such as shifting population from the unassigned area in rural western Maricopa County to help another district reach the requisite population level, and said Mathis’ map wouldn’t require many changes to meet the criteria he set for his own.

Republican Commissioner Richard Stertz said he would like to combine the proposals so the commission can get to work on a final draft. “At the end of this week, our goal is to say we’re moving a map forward,” he said.

Herrera said he needed time to examine Mathis’ map and consider needed adjustments first. But he said he was wary of proposals that include three congressional districts on the Arizona-Mexico border, an idea that Stertz has advocated. Herrera was especially skeptical toward the smallest of the three border districts – which starts at a sliver of border east of Nogales and moves north through the west side of Tucson – which he said might not have enough population to support an entire congressional district.

“It almost seems to make a border district for the sake of making a border district,” Herrera said. “I’m wary of this kind of breakdown.”

Democratic Commissioner Linda McNulty was also skeptical of the three border districts, and questioned whether it would actually lead to more of a focus on border issues. McNulty questioned why Arizona should divide the border into three districts when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection only divides it into two.

* * *

Mathis said she would factor in Freeman and Herrera’s suggestions and aspects of their proposals, and said she hoped the commission would start making adjustments to her map on Tuesday.

* * *

Mathis said the best way to ensure that rural voices are heard is make the districts as competitive as possible so members of Congress won’t be able to discount any part of their constituencies. She was hopeful that the donut-hole map would allow for at least one competitive district in the metro Phoenix area while drawing another in the Tucson areas.

All hands on deck this morning!

September 27, 2011

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Tucson – Reid Park

445 S. Alvernon Way,
Tucson, Arizona, 85711-4198

9:00 A.M.

Agenda http://www.azredistricting.org/docs/Meeting-Info/Agenda-092711.pdf