Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The GOP negotiating position is essentially "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is negotiable." As you might imagine, this is not a "good faith" bargaining position. It reflects the Tea-Publican's sense of entitlement to lord over us all, "as God intends it." This authoritarianism is undemocratic and un-American, and should be rejected by any fair-minded reasonable American.
On Saturday, Andrei Cherny, the Arizona Democratic Party Chair, had this "My Turn" guest opinion published in the Arizona Republic which, as Steve Muratore at the Arizona Eagletarian blog and this blog has pointed out, has been carrying water for this GOP "permanent majority" hissy-fit over redistricting. Cherny: GOP throws a redistricting fit (emphasis mine):
Just last week, Arizona's entire GOP power structure joined in a collective roar, led by Gov. Jan Brewer, Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, and every congressional Republican in our delegation.
One after another, these powerful politicians leveled outrageous attacks against citizen volunteers on the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, threatening commissioners with removal and peddling falsehoods about the commission's constitutional role.
What prompted this war cry? A congressional draft map approved by the commission – a map that actually maintains the current balance of four safe GOP districts and two safe Democratic districts. The most noteworthy change in the map was the addition of one competitive, or toss-up, district, bringing the total competitive districts to three.
Arizona Democrats have serious concerns about that congressional draft map and about the legislative draft map unveiled this week. As a political party, it's our role to flag those concerns and call for changes we believe are fair. But it is outrageous that Republican politicians have resorted to personal attacks and bullying against commissioners.
Competitive districts, which have a roughly 50-50 split in partisan-voter behavior, give Arizonans and particularly independent voters more of a voice in whom they elect. Competitive districts help tamp down extremism on both sides of the aisle, forcing candidates to reach out to a wider audience instead of only their partisan supporters. To win, both parties have to put forward the best candidates and best ideas. Our state will benefit from more competitiveness, not less.
But, as last week's mass tantrum confirmed, "competition" is a dirty word to Arizona Republican leaders. Competitive districts, after all, threaten their grip on power. They are well-aware that Arizona's voter registration is roughly one-third Republican, one-third Democrat and one-third independent. An August Gallup poll showed that Arizona is one of the most evenly split states in the nation in terms of partisan loyalties.
This commission has the opportunity to draw four competitive congressional districts out of the total of nine and still comply with the Voting Rights Act. But it has chosen to draw only three. While the congressional draft map was disappointing, the legislative draft map is a giant step in the wrong direction.
Today, of the 30 legislative districts in the state, only four seats are truly competitive. In the rest, the Democratic or Republican nominee is virtually assured of a victory. But instead of increasing the number of competitive seats to 10 or even 11, the commission's legislative draft map takes Arizona down to only one truly competitive seat in the whole state.
True, this draft would increase the number of safe seats Democrats can win without having to put up much of a fight. Some may think that is a good thing. I disagree. There would be more extremism in the state Legislature and it effectively denies just about every independent voter – soon to be the largest group in our state – the right to have a say in Arizona's future.
We urge this commission to maximize the number of 50-50 districts to give Arizona's voters more of a choice in future elections.
Whether you are a Democrat, Republican or independent, now is the time to speak up. If you believe we need less partisanship and more problem-solving, less extremist rhetoric and more mainstream ideas, less time on fringe issues and more on bread-and-butter concerns such as the economy, schools and crime, please attend one of the commission's public-comment meetings (details at azredistricting.org). Arizona's future depends on it.
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