‘Paranoia strikes deep’ at the Tea-Publican Committee to Interfere With The AIRC

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the man come and take you away

(We better) Stop, hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look – what's going down?
– For What It's Worth, by Buffalo Springfield

Tea-Publican paranoia strikes deep out of fear the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission might create competitive districts or — God forbid, districts in which Democrats stand a chance of being elected – and deny Tea-Publicans a "permanent Republican majority" in Arizona. "We have a divine right to rule!" Democrats realistically point out that the draft maps of the AIRC are far from being competitive and do in fact preserve the Republican majority that has existed in Arizona since 1966.

Some of the recent paranoid delusions of Tea-Publicans would be comical if not so disturbed. This is what has been going on at the Tea-Publican Committee to Interfere With the AIRC dog-and-pony show. Lawmakers consider recalling redistricting panel members over gripes – East Valley Tribune:

Ken Moyes, who is doing work for the possible congressional campaign of state Sen. Frank Antenori (R-Tucson), charged that the commissioners created a "Trojan horse'' district that they claim is politically competitive but actually tilts Democratic if the voting patterns of independents are considered.

* * *

Moyes said he has discovered grounds.

He said that, on paper, the lines for the congressional district that would be created from the Catalina Foothills section of Tucson through Green Valley, Sierra Vista and Douglas appears to be highly competitive, where a candidate from either party has a chance to win. In pure party registration, 34.5 percent of voters are Republicans against 34.4 percent Democrats. But he said that Strategic Telemetry, the mapping firm retained by the commission that Republicans contend is biased, created a district where 73 percent of the remaining independents have shown a propensity to vote with the Democrats.

"So they can literally create a non-competitive district, calling it competitive, and that's what we think they've done,'' he said.

"They know where the independents are voting,'' Moyes told lawmakers. "It is a Trojan horse.''

What makes that illegal, he charged is a constitutional provision which says that all of that information is off limits when first crafting a map. Only after the initial phase does the law allow party registration and voting history to be used, and only to "test maps for compliance'' with various goals, including competitiveness.

Moyes said, though, he believes Strategic Telemetry used the voting patterns early on the process in several districts, all to the benefit of Democrats.

"There's no smoking gun,'' he conceded. But he said the way the lines were drawn suggests no other reasonable explanation.

Get a clue. In Pima County, Independents tend to vote Democratic. Even moderate Republicans, who have left the GOP because of the radical extremism of Tea-Publicans like Frank Antenori, tend to vote Democratic. That is why Pima County is a blue island in a red state.

Antenori is just upset that the AIRC did not create a "safe" congressional district for him to run in as would have occurred if the Tea-Publican Arizona legislature still controlled the redistricting process. Which is why the voters of Arizona created an Independent Redistricting Commission in the first place. Antenori sees conspiracies out to get him. There's always a job opening at World Nut Daily, Frank.

But the prize for paranoia goes to Birther Rep. Carl Seel (R-Phoenix), who brought shame upon this state by sponsoring the only Birther bill to pass a state legislature. Even our batty Governor thought that was too crazy and vetoed the bill.

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) has this report which exposes the paranoia of Seel who also sees conspiracies out to get him. Seel would fit right in at World Nut Daily, clearinghouse central for Birther conspiracies. Seel suggests mapping firm retaliated for his bills:

Rep. Carl Seel suggested that the Independent Redistricting Commission’s mapping consultants may have put him in a less Republican district in retaliation for his legislative record.

Speaking at Monday’s meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting, Seel questioned why Strategic Telemetry – which has ties to Democratic candidates and causes, including President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign – put him in a new district that eliminated much of his conservative support.

“My district has gone from a solidly Republican district where I am positioned, interestingly enough, to a district that may be considered a competitive district. Now, I don’t know if that has anything to do with the legislation that I’ve sponsored or not,” Seel said during his testimony to the committee.

Seel told the Arizona Capitol Times that he is not accusing Strategic Telemetry or the IRC of gerrymandering him into a less favorable district – and he had no proof that such a conspiracy took place.

* * *

Seel said his sponsorship of HB2177, known to many as Arizona’s “birther bill,” could theoretically make him a target. “I would imagine that if I were Obama and this is the only bill in the nation that got through a Legislature, that it might get his attention, and therefore it would probably get the attention of Obama’s chief strategist, Ken Strasma,” he said.

* * *

Seel also suggested that Strategic Telemetry might have ties to the recall campaign against Senate President Russell Pearce.

* * *

Seel also noted that Strategic Telemetry assisted recall efforts against Republican legislators in Wisconsin, and floated the idea of doing the same to Gov. Scott Walker, who gained national fame earlier this year for taking on public employee unions in his state.

“I don’t have specific information or facts to that, but I have some indications that there may be some clear connections between Strategic Telemetry, SEIU, MoveOn.org and the (assault) that’s happening against my esteemed colleague, Sen. Russell Pearce,” Seel said at Monday’s committee hearing.

Someone this paranoid delusional has no business serving in elective office. As I have said before, we need to require mental competency exams for people who run for elective office. New Rule: Mental Competency Exams for Politicians.

UPDATE: It appears the Tea-Publican Committee to Interfere With the AIRC dog-and-pony show is just another venue for Tea-Publicans to vent their anger at everyone who does not agree with them. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Redistricting committee may not make concrete recommendations to IRC:

Rep. Jim Weiers, who co-chairs the committee, said the litany of complaints with the committee heard about the IRC may end up being the basis of a report the committee sends to the IRC. But it may not make any specific recommendations about what changes the commission should make to the congressional and legislative draft maps it approved this month.

“I don’t know if we’ll even get to the point of recommendations, other than saying here is what a number of people are saying,” Weiers said. “The charge of this committee is to have open comment, let people at that point bring forth what they believe (is) right and wrong.”

Your tax dollars at work, being pissed away to appease angry Tea-Publicans.