The GOP war on the AIRC returns with a vengeance

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Just when you thought these Tea-Publican authoritarians had finally learned their lesson, the Tea-Publican tyranny is back, and they want to impose their authoritarian will on us again — the will of the voters be damned.

House Speaker Andy Tobin introduced several measures on Thursday that would set a special election so voters could decide whether to use legislative and congressional maps drawn by the Legislature instead of those approved last month by the constitutional Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Tobin wants special election on new district maps:

Tobin, R-Paulden, introduced a handful of measures on Thursday that would put new maps drawn by the Legislature on the ballot for a May 15 special election. Another proposal would put a measure on the general election ballot in November to expand the membership of the IRC, among other changes.

HCR2052 and HCR2053 would call the special election so voters could decide on congressional and legislative maps approved by lawmakers. The proposals come as the IRC is preparing to send its own maps, approved in December, to the U.S. Department of Justice for approval.

Tobin said he and House staffer John Mills, who worked for the GOP-backed FAIR Trust and was a regular fixture at IRC meetings, already completed the congressional and legislative maps he wants to refer to the ballot. He said they began working on the maps about three weeks ago, using public input gleaned from seven days of hearings by a Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting in October.

They did not speak with other lawmakers about the proposal, Tobin said.

Tobin has a laugh out loud lack of self-awareness and sense of irony with this statement:

“I think it’s clear that there should be an alternative to the IRC maps. And I think the voters should see a clear and distinct alternative,” Tobin said. “The politics that drew the IRC maps through the back door with the lights turned down is not going to stand. I think the voters know when they see deception.”

You mean like you and John Mills drawing up maps together? And the highly secretive GOP redistricting organization FAIR Trust operating in the shadows actively seeking to undermine the AIRC for over a year? This guy is a major tool!

While the speaker accused the IRC of operating behind closed doors, he defended his and Mills’ drawing of the maps by themselves without any public input.

House Minority Leader Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, said Tobin’s plan is a perfect example of why the voters took the redistricting process out of politicians’ hands in 2000 when they approved Proposition 106, the ballot measure that created the IRC. Damn straight!

Campbell said Tobin’s plan was nothing more than a scheme to protect GOP incumbents and maintain Republican dominance, and he predicted that voters would overwhelmingly reject the maps.

“This is the most self-serving move I’ve ever seen by any politician in the history of this state,” Campbell said. “The voters are going to find this pitiful. This is a last-ditch power grab to protect incumbency for members.”

HCR2051 would ask voters in November to approve reforms that would eliminate some of Republicans’ biggest complaints against the commission. The measure would expand the commission from five members to 12 and eliminate the Commission on Appellate Court Appointment’s role in screening and vetting candidates. Tobin’s proposal for the fall election would also require the IRC to comply with Arizona open meeting laws.

Another measure introduced by Senate Majority Leader Andy Biggs, SCR1035, would put a measure on the general election ballot asking voters to simply eliminate the IRC.

If Republicans go along with House Speaker Andy Tobin’s plan to force a special election that would seek to change the state’s legislative and congressional maps, it will cost Arizona more than $8 million. Special election on redistricting would cost $8M.

A May 15 special election would cost the state about $8.3 million, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. A previous proposal to hold a special election on Feb. 28, the day of Arizona’s presidential preference election, would have cost about $4 million less because the state was already printing ballots for Republican voters.

The Legislature must approve the special election proposal by Feb. 15 to get it on the ballot for May 15.

Tobin’s proposals are the most recent actions in the war between Tea-Publicans, the AIRC and Arizona voters.

The legislature has no constitutional authority to refer its own partisan maps to the voters. The voters of Arizona stripped them of this ability. The only constitutional process for redistricting maps is the AIRC. This is an attempt at an end-run around the constitutional process. It is a flagrant violation of the Arizona Constitution and invites a host of lawsuits from interested parties, and not just the DOJ. This is a massive waste of time and money in pursuit of authoritarian hubris. This is an obscene abuse of power.

If the legislature wants to send reforms of the AIRC to the voters in November, they can do so — but the changes will be prospective only and will affect the next AIRC ten years from now. There is no "do over" for the current AIRC redistricting process.

The voters of Arizona need to make these authoritarians who violate our laws and seek to undermine our democracy pay the price for their Tea-Publican tyranny.