The Arizona Daily Star gets it right on the AIRC

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Occasionally the Arizona Daily Star shows signs of its former greatness in an editorial opinion. Such was the case on Saturday in this editorial opinion. Brewer's meddling in commission a detriment to state:

The Arizona Supreme Court reinstated Colleen Mathis as chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission, overturning Gov. Jan Brewer's presumptuous and politically motivated interference in the commission. The decision is sound, and Brewer should stop her meddling.

Brewer ousted Mathis after deciding she was guilty of substantial neglect of duty or gross misconduct in her role as chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission. The court, however, ruled late Thursday that nothing outlined in Brewer's letter to Mathis notifying her of her firing rose to that level of wrongdoing.

Brewer alleged that Mathis violated the Open Meeting Law and that the draft legislative maps drawn up don't pay sufficient attention to "communities of interest." Retired Justice Michael Ryan, who sat in on the hearing Thursday, pointed out that the maps Brewer objects to are not final. He also stated that another court is determining if the Independent Redistricting Commission is subject to the Open Meeting Law.

We believe the commission should follow the Open Meeting Law requirements, as the public's business should be done in public. However, as we have stated before, the charges are unproven so it was premature for Brewer to act on that basis.

As Capitol Media Services reported, it is unclear from the brief ruling if the court was deciding that the allegations Brewer made against Mathis did not rise to the level needed to justify removal – or if Brewer simply needs to write a better, more explicit letter and then fire her again.

Brewer should take to heart the meat of the ruling – that the governor does not have unfettered authority to remove commissioners as she sees fit. Her assertion that her decision must be affirmed by two-thirds of the the state Senate, and that that provides a check on her power, is ludicrous in real terms. A Legislature with such a Republican majority acting in concert with a Republican governor on such thin grounds does not provide a legitimate check – any more than it would if the majority and governorship were help by Democrats.

Brewer should allow the commission to continue its work – the maps must be finalized and sent to the U.S. Justice Department.

What Brewer has done, with the assistance of the Republican lawmakers, is to poison the waters so that even if wrongdoing has been committed on the commission, no action will have legitimacy. The public perception of entire process has been undermined, to the detriment of the state.

Lawmakers also should shelve any thoughts of asking voters to undo the Independent Redistricting Commission – and to put legislators in charge of the maps again.

Undercutting confidence in the redistricting process, and the commission, serves a political purpose. It allows lawmakers, whose control of the process was taken away by voters because they were so dissatisfied with the previous process, to act as if the very idea of an independent commission is the real problem.

It's not.

In fact, Arizona hasn't had a chance to see how the Independent Redistricting Commission operates because the governor and Republican officials have interfered from the beginning.

It is time to let the Independent Redistricting Commission get back to work doing the difficult job of coming up with legislative maps that will shape Arizona for the decade to come.

Kudos to the Arizona Daily Star for getting it right.