State senators voted 21-6 Tuesday to remove the chairwoman of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.
The unprecedented move came on a bid by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer who said Colleen Mathis was guilty of gross misconduct, both in how she operated the commission and in the maps for the 30 legislative and nine congressional districts the panel is charged with drawing.
Brewer had actually sought to also remove Democrats Jose Herrera and Linda McNulty from the give member commission.
"The two Democrats were part of the same operation,'' said gubernatorial press aide Matthew Benson. "The governor was convinced they had colluded with Colleen Mathis.''
But Senate President Russell Pearce said the Republicans who control the Senate -- and had to approve Brewer's action by a two-thirds margin -- saw no reason to go that far. And Benson said his boss is "comfortable'' that replacing just Mathis will solve problems on the five-member panel.
In a separate vote, both the House and Senate voted to urge the commission to scrap the draft maps they already have adopted and start from scratch. That resolution says the maps are "fundamentally flawed.''
Legally speaking, the commission has no obligation to pay any attention to that resolution. But Pearce said he expects the panel, once a new chairman is named, to agree to start over.
Benson, however, said he's not convinced that the commission has to throw out everything that already has been done.
In the letter to Mathis firing her, Brewer said that she has been guilty of violating the Open Meeting Law.
Republican members of the commission had told investigators for Attorney General Tom Horne that Mathis called individual members, one at a time, to line up votes to give a contract to Strategic Telemetry to help the commission draw its maps. Horne contends such sequential calls to more than one commissioner on the five-member panel violates the requirement to conduct all business in public.
Brewer also said Mathis broke the requirements in the 2000 voter-approved law by ignoring requirements to create compact districts and protect communities of interest in favor of trying to create as many politically competitive districts as possible.
The governor, in a prepared statement, said she is convinced that removing Mathis "is the right thing.''
"I will not sit idly by while Arizona's congressional and legislative boundaries are drawn in a fashion that is anything but constitutional and proper,'' she said. "Arizona voters must live with the new district maps for a decade.''
But Senate Minority Leader David Schapira said there is no evidence of misconduct. More to the point, he said that Mathis, who called allegations against her "patently false,'' never had a chance to make her case.
"What we have here is a witch hunt ... with a predetermined outcome,'' the Tempe Democrat said. Schapira said that was coordinated by Brewer, Secretary of State Ken Bennett and Attorney General Tom Horne, all Republicans, along with GOP members of the Legislature and the congressional delegation.
Tuesday's Senate vote is not likely to be the end of the fight.
Paul Charlton, Mathis' attorney, said he will ask the state Supreme Court to overturn the action by the governor and the Senate. In fact, Charlton said he wants the justices to allow his client to remain on the commission while the legality of her ouster is litigated.
Commission attorney Mary O'Grady asked the state Supreme Court late Tuesday to block Mathis' ouster. But the Senate completed its vote before she could get a justice to consider the request.
O'Grady said she and the commissioners are weighing what options they have now.
She acknowledged that the constitutional provision which created the commission does give the governor the power to remove commission members who she believes are guilty of gross misconduct.
But O'Grady said that nothing in Brewer's accusation rises to that level. And even in other cases, such as a claim of violation of the Open Meeting Law, the attorney said only a judge -- and not the governor nor the Legislature -- can unilaterally rule that the law was broken.
Senate Majority Leader Andy Biggs countered that the constitution makes removal of commissioners a "political process.'' He said that means the governor and lawmakers can define "gross misconduct'' to mean whatever they believe it is.
Possible court battles aside, the removal of Mathis creates other questions.
One is exactly how her replacement will be named.
By law, the four other commissioners chose her from a list of registered independents that had been interviewed and nominated by a separate panel that normally screens candidates for appellate courts. One option would be for the four commissioners to go back to that original list to choose someone else.
But Tuesday's move also could force that appellate screening panel to start reviewing applications from scratch.
The bigger question is what happens to the legislative and congressional maps which already have gained preliminary approval by the redistricting commission. Because this has never happened before, it is unclear whether the commission, by virtue of having a new member who never participated in any of the debate or the public hearings, has to start over again.
That would push the process back by months. And that, in turn, could endanger having maps ready to use for the 2012 election, especially since the U.S. Department of Justice has 60 days to "preclear'' any changes in voting district lines.
Benson said while Brewer believes the process was flawed, she does not believe it is necessary to start over.
"But it doesn't mean that you can't kind of significantly reevaluate where you're at, how you got there and how you're going to move forward,'' he said. Benson said Brewer thinks there can be "substantive changes'' to the maps.
Pearce said there were not the votes for Brewer's initial desire to also remove the two Democrats. But he said many senators did not believe that is necessary, laying the blame for their complaints about the maps at the feet of Mathis, who was supposed to be the independent, neutral voice.
He said she made it clear "from the beginning'' that she was biased.
For example, Pearce noted that the Democrats and Republicans on the panel were each entitled to an attorney. But he said that Mathis voted with the Democrats to give them their first choice of lawyers -- and to deny Republicans who they wanted.
"I mean, how silly can you get?'' Pearce asked. "And it's gone downhill from there.''
Mathis also was the deciding vote to choose Strategic Telemetry as the consultant to help draw the maps. That move came over the objections of the Republicans who pointed out that firm has strong Democratic ties, having done work for both Barack Obama and John Kerry.
Pearce and fellow Republicans blame Mathis for coming up with congressional maps they say undermine the ability of GOP incumbents to get reelected. And Pearce said the maps ignore requirements to try to keep communities of interest together.
"What do Fountain Hills and Apache Junction (on the outskirts of the Phoenix area) have in common with Bullhead City?'' Pearce asked.
Republicans are less unhappy with the legislative maps which would appear to all but guarantee Republican political dominance of 16 of the 30 districts. Mathis played only part of the role in that, with those maps being approved on a 4-1 margin, with the consent of Republican Scott Freeman.
But there are several instances where the lines put incumbent GOP legislators into the same districts, meaning they would have to run against each other, with only one surviving.
The constitution precludes the commission from considering where incumbents live. But there have been allegations -- all unproven -- that some commissioners ignored that prohibition.
"What I want is a chairman that will help balance that commission to create an honest map, to follow the law and the constitution,'' Pearce said.
Even if there is no legal challenge to the Senate action and the commission gets a new chairman, that does not end legislative action.
Pearce said he wants to ask voters to repeal the 2000 constitutional amendment, once again allowing lawmakers to draw the maps.
That proposition was sold to voters with arguments that lawmakers were interested in only one thing: creating "safe'' districts for themselves and their political allies. But Pearce said he believes the case can be made to voters that the old system is preferable.
"We are elected officials,'' he said. "You can fire us if we don't do that job -- and should if we don't do the job.''
Technically speaking, the letter firing Mathis was signed by Bennett as "acting governor.''
Brewer actually is in New York City promoting her new book "Scorpions for Breakfast.'' And the Arizona Constitution makes Bennett, as secretary of state, the acting governor when the elected governor is out of state.
That absence during the first-ever ouster of a commission member angered Schapira.
"I think it's pretty ridiculous for her to be publicly accusing commissioners of gross misconduct when she's not even here to lead our state,'' he said.
In_God_We_Trust posted at 10:15 am on Sat, Nov 5, 2011.
dondon6634, the only Gestapo tactics I see were stopped when Brewer ousted the redistricting commission's chairwoman, Mathis.
Diogenes Lantern posted at 9:14 am on Thu, Nov 3, 2011.
Interesting how State Senate Minority Leader Schapira is fighting for thenew gerrymandered maps. The Guilty 3 drew the maps so that Schipra has an easy win next year in his ASU controlled corridor. The way ithe new maps are drawn, there are no pesky conservative incumbents in that new gerrymandered district.
If Lewis wins the Recall, then he would have to run against Schapiro -not Pearce or Crandall. Lewis would be trounced by ASU's Schapira and one of the top 3 names in AZ Dem Party in a highly liberal district. So the Dems "use" Lewis for the Recall, then make sure Lewis is trounced next year. No wonder Schapira is fighting for his new map! Schapira won't have to raise a penny. Done deal! Lewis is used and abused!
And now the Dems are recalling Crandall, Reagan, Briggs, etc -the moderate GOPs for voting for the impeachment of Mathis. So Pearce will run against Crandall-already facing a Dem recall! Russell will have straight sailing. And Mesa will be the loser for the cost of the Recall.
Rational Human posted at 8:31 pm on Wed, Nov 2, 2011.
dondon6634, they did try a naked power grab and were put down. The GOP didn't cry at all. They just dismissed the offending power grabbers like any reasonable person would. Calling people Nazi's sure does make your argument seem much more intelligent, and you notice how it always comes from the socialist/communist crowd. You people would be wise to avoid using that over used card as Fascism and Communism are the two extremes the rest of us try to avoid, and using it exposes you as the opposite of Fascist.
dondon6634 posted at 3:27 pm on Wed, Nov 2, 2011.
So much for an independent commission. Hopefully, Pearce gets recalled next week and with him goes his Gestapo tactics. This governor and legislature are a disgrace to the state. Can you say "abuse of power." If the Dems had tried this naked power grab, the GOP would be crying bloody murder.
Rational Human posted at 12:53 pm on Wed, Nov 2, 2011.
It was a power grab CSalafia, but the honest senators with Gov Brewer threw them out for what was most definitely misconduct. We voted in that law to stop the gerrymandering that this very biased committee tried to create. Thank you Governor Brewer and the Senate for seeing through their unconstitutional and borderline criminal behavior. Pearce out? Maybe, maybe not, but in the end we all lost 100k and you wont have accomplished anything about the fight against illegal immigration that will continue to grow and grow throughout America.
CSalafia posted at 11:33 am on Wed, Nov 2, 2011.
This is nothing but a blatant power grab by Brewer and the GOP.
Even Biggs admitted that gross misconduct "means whatever the Legislature decides it means".
The voters approved this law so that conflict of having legislators create district boundaries would be removed. Now Pearce, Mr. "Rule of Law", wants to undo what the people of Arizona voted for.
No matter, though, he'll be out of office in 6 days anyway.
sndvl55 posted at 10:29 am on Wed, Nov 2, 2011.
Thank You AZ Senate, Gov. Brewer and SoS Bennett !!!
I'm glad to see our ELECTED officials are not laying down and being steamrolled by this UNELECTED commission.
Mathis is not independent. She is a Democrat hack.
I'm all for Sen. Pearce sending the idea of the IRC back to the voters. It needs scrapped!
Diogenes Lantern posted at 8:58 am on Wed, Nov 2, 2011.
Interesting that Randy Parraz was testifying at the legislative IRC committee meeting yesterday to not fire Mathis and to keep the gerrymandered maps.
Conservatives felt that the timing of the Pearce Recall/Lewis Campaign and the Final new maps was just too coincidental. Randy Parraz makes $118k a year by the unions as a rabble rouser promoting class warfare (read about the IAF)-the polite term is Community Organizer.
The Pearce Recall/Lewis campaign and Strategic Telemetry/Gerrymandered Maps are being funded by the GANG OF FOUR that took over Colorado-read the book Blueprint. This same PAC, Public Campaign Action Fund, is funding the anti-Pearce flyers costing $28,940.29. The AZ shadow group on the flyers -Campaign Money Watch is then funded by PCAF. Read Gilbert Watch for more information.
The funders for the Lewis campaign and the Redistricting TakeOver is Pat Stryker, multi-millionaire,, Move.On.org, NEA Union, SEIU, Tides Foundation (Soros) and Common Cause.
Mathis was fired because of her illegal tactics getting Strategic Telemtry hired. ST's main clients are MoveOn.org, SEIU, AFL-CIO and other mob-controlled unions.
Please read the book Blueprint and learn that this SUPER PAC moved from Colorado to Arizona for Take0ver #2. Also read David Horowitz's book "Shadow Government" (Soros is the shadow) and help take back our country and state.
phxvato1202 posted at 8:46 am on Wed, Nov 2, 2011.
Talk about some serious gerrymandering. The Gop senators claim that they were firing her for violating the open meetings law, something they are pros at doing. Take this to court so Brewer can lose again. One does not have to be a politician to see some serious violations of the people of Arizona and it was not committed by this commission but by the Jack a-z-z Gop senators. I will never vote for a GOP candidate ever again and i stick to my word.
wotmot posted at 8:43 am on Wed, Nov 2, 2011.
hmm... lets see. A Republican majority and they want not only the commisioner, but the only two democrates thrown out... yea. Meanwhile the govenor alleges gross misconduct because the districts are not competitive enough? Give us all a break. If a person is going to make allegations GIVE SPECIFICS as to when, where, and how the misconduct took place. I am sick of Brewer, thank GOD she can not run for govenor again