AIRC Update: We have (tentative) final maps!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It was only days before Christmas, "When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But congressional and legislative maps, They're finally here!" (My apologies to Clement Moore).

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) late Tuesday evening tentatively approved the final congressional district map and the state legislative district map, pending analyses by the panel's legal counsel and voting-rights consultants. The AIRC must still vote to ratify the maps after receiving the legal and technical analyses.

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports State redistricting commission approves congressional, legislative maps:

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission approved a final congressional map that creates four Republican-leaning districts, two Democratic-leaning districts and three competitive districts.

The legislative map has 16 districts deemed safe for Republicans, 10 that are safe for Democrats and four that are considered competitive.

Democratic commissioners Linda McNulty and José Herrera were joined by the independent chairwoman Colleen Mathis in voting for the map, and the two Republicans, Scott Freeman and Richard Stertz, voted against it.

The vote for the legislative map was more complicated and actually required two votes. Initially, the Republicans opposed the map, while Mathis and McNulty supported it and Herrera abstained, saying he believed the commission should attempt to create another competitive district in Maricopa County.

However, when Herrera attempted to revisit a proposal he unsuccessfully advocated for on Monday, Stertz announced that he would support the map that had just been rejected if a second vote were held. After a brief break to sort out the parliamentary procedure needed to proceed, Stertz joined Mathis and McNulty in voting for the map. Freeman again voted no, as did Herrera.

After the vote, Stertz said he changed his mind in order to prevent the map from getting “worse” for Republicans by changing a district with a moderate Republican registration advantage into a competitive district.

“I wanted to stop the process, so we’ve stopped it," he said.

Well yes, that has been the role of Richard Stertz all along. This embed commissioner from the Jesse Kelly campaign has done everything in his power to delay, to disrupt and to derail the commission's work from the day he was appointed to the commission. He was the GOP FAIR Trust's inside game as they feigned to play an outside game.

The maps will next be submitted to minority-rights experts the commission has contracted with to ensure proper adherence to federal minority-protection laws, as well as to county election officials who may want very minor adjustments around the edges of districts, to line up with county election precincts.

That process will likely take several days, and could result in some very minor adjustments. If the analysis determines that changes need to be made, the commission will have to again ratify the maps.

After the analysis is complete, the commission’s attorneys will have to prepare an exhaustive report to accompany the maps as they are submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice for federal approval. Preparing the submission is expected to take a couple weeks.

IRC attorney Mary O’Grady said she hopes to have the final Justice Department submission ready sometime in January.

Other reporting on the AIRC maps today focuses attention on how this will affect Republicans (reflecting the political bias of Arizona political reporters). Howard Fischer continues to write press releases for the Arizona GOP, although this headline is probably the handiwork of the Arizona Daily Star's creative headline department. Redistrict panel OKs map; GOP unhappy:

A divided Independent Redistricting Commission adopted a plan late Tuesday for Arizona's nine congressional districts that Republicans contend is politically unfair and unnecessarily splits up communities with common interests.

The controversial plan keeps Cochise County in a single district as preferred by residents there. An earlier map had split it between two districts.

But to do that, the commission put SaddleBrooke, Marana and Oro Valley into a sprawling district that goes all the way to Camp Verde and Sedona, through most of the state's Indian reservations through Flagstaff, and all the way to the Utah border.

And a crescent-shaped district carved into Maricopa County runs from the Ahwatukee area on Phoenix's far south side, circumventing midtown Phoenix and going through Tempe and parts of Mesa, Chandler and the south side of Scottsdale. That, however, splits Paradise Valley from the closely aligned and nearby Arcadia and Biltmore sections of Phoenix.

Commission Chairwoman Colleen Mathis, a political independent, sided with Democrats Linda McNulty and José Herrera in approving the plan. Herrera said it creates a map with four districts with a Republican voter edge, two districts that should be safe for Democrats and three districts in which the number of voters in each party is close enough to make them politically competitive.

But Republican Scott Freeman, visibly angry, said the final version adds enough Democrats to those supposedly competitive districts to essentially make it difficult for a Republican to get elected.

This reflects the views of this Dominionist that a "permanent Republican majority" is as God intends it — we are God's Own Party (GOP) — we have a divine right to lord over the residents of Arizona!

The Republican commissioners clearly have a problem with democracy and political competition. Perhaps they are living in the wrong country.

The reporting was of a similar bent in the Arizona Republic today — pearl clutching for Republicans who may actually be in a competitive district — "the horrors!" Arizona redistrict panel turns in new map:

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission on Tuesday approved a congressional map for 2012 that puts Republican Reps. Ben Quayle and Paul Gosar in competitive districts, positioning them for possible tough fights next year.

It also moves Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., into a district that reflects his traditional political base and eliminates a much-mocked boundary line that pulled northeastern Arizona into the same district as western Arizona.

After months of heated public debate and intense legal wrangling, the commission voted 3-2 to make several tweaks to a draft map that had left Republicans feeling shortchanged.

* * *

Quayle and Gosar are in districts that diminish their chances of re-election, Republican commissioners said, because the districts, although labeled "competitive," could easily favor Democrats.

* * *

With Tuesday's change, there will be no need for Schweikert to move. Quayle remains in the new 9th Congressional District.

Other changes include:

The map keeps two congressional districts along the border with Mexico, dropping earlier plans to have three districts that touched the border.

It removes GOP-heavy Prescott from the district Gosar currently represents and adds in more Indian communities, which traditionally vote Democratic.

It keeps Peoria, Mesa and the San Tan Valley area whole, heeding the advice of citizens during the public-comment period.

It keeps Cochise County whole as part of a district that includes large parts of Tucson. This is roughly the same area U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., now represents.

But keeping Cochise County in one district came at the expense of several northern Tucson bedroom communities such as Marana and Oro Valley. They are now part of the largely rural 1st Congressional District, despite their desire to remain in the same district as Tucson.

WRONG!There was testimony from teabaggers from the Oro Valley/SaddleBrooke/Marana area during public hearings that they have more in common with the rural areas of Pinal County; others did testify that they felt more of a community of interest with the unincorporated areas of Tucson, e.g., Casas Adobes and Tortolita. They tried to have it both ways and were too clever by half in their frequent attempts to intimidate and to pressure the AIRC. Their own testimony can support this map.

The tentative maps approved by the AIRC should be posted online later today. Based upon the iterations of the maps from the past several days, I would say that the changes closely track the recommendations I posted about for Southern Arizona, which is a point of some satisfaction for me. I still want to see where exactly the lines are on the East side of Tucson where I reside.

I will post the maps and links later today.