Insisting they are more accountable, Republican state lawmakers voted Wednesday to ask voters to let them once again draw the political lines for the state.
SCR 1035 seeks to repeal the 2000 initiative which created the five-member Independent Redistricting Commission. That panel is charged with dividing the state into the 30 legislative and, currently, nine congressional districts.
"The process has proven itself corrupt,'' said Sen. Rick Murphy, R-Glendale. And Senate Majority Leader Andy Biggs said the system of two Democrats, two Republicans and one who is supposed to be politically independent is not really responsive to public concerns, with that tie-breaking independent becoming "the map czar of the state.''
Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, said he agrees with Republicans that there are flaws in the process. But he said they could be fixed by revamping the commission, perhaps adding more members and guaranteeing some rural representation.
But Gallardo said scrapping the system outright is not the answer.
"The days of drawing them in a back room with no public input, (which) is exactly what's going to happen, are over,'' he said.
And Sen. David Lujan, D-Phoenix, said GOP senators themselves have proven they do not care about what the public has to say.
He cited the decision by Sen. Don Shooter, R-Yuma, to refuse to accept public testimony during the early stages of hearings on the budgets for state agencies. And Lujan noted that Republicans went behind closed doors earlier this week to talk about a proposal by Gov. Jan Brewer to scrap the state's merit protections for employees.
The maps have been criticized widely by GOP lawmakers, candidates and party officials who contend that the lines were drawn in ways to give an edge to Democratic candidates.
At one point the charges were so strong that Gov. Jan Brewer proposed removing Colleen Mathis, the independent chair of the commission, as well as the two Democrats.
Brewer backed off a bit after the Republican-controlled Senate, which has to ratify any such move, balked at that. Instead, she fired only Mathis, a decision the Senate confirmed, a move designed to force a reconstituted commission to start over and draw new maps.
That action, however, was overruled by the Arizona Supreme Court. That leaves the commission-drawn maps in place, at least for this year's election.
If voters agree to repeal, lawmakers -- at least the majority party -- would have the chance to craft their own maps in time for the 2014 race.
Biggs, who crafted the proposal, told colleagues this is not about him. In fact, the Gilbert Republican said that, even with the new lines, there is little danger a Democrat could get elected from his area.
But he said that process involving 90 legislators is bound to be better than what exists now.
"It's harder to corrupt 90 than it is to corrupt one,'' he said.
The measure still needs approval by the full Senate and then the House before it goes to the ballot. The governor does not get a say in such proposals.
House Speaker Andy Tobin, meanwhile, has crafted his own set of alternate legislative and congressional maps. He wants a special election in May to give voters a chance to choose between those and the ones the commission adopted.
Tobin also proposes some changes to the structure of the commission amid his own questions of whether voters would approve the kind of outright repeal in the Biggs plan.
comestherain posted at 3:45 am on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
um, no....no voter in their right mind would vote to turn this over to the inept legislature
soricobob posted at 4:01 am on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
I agree completely! Just because Queen Jan didn't get what she wanted, her cronies want to change the rules of the game.
Dale Whiting posted at 5:27 am on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
No way, Jose!
It's not so much that the Legislature is inept but that they are crooks! The fight over re-districting is a war over creating districts designed to promote re-election and Single Party Domination.
"Inept" implies incapable. But politicians are among the most capable of people on earth, capable of lying so that those who reward them handsomely get that which they paid to get. And the electorate gets precisely what they did not want, a truely representative government.
Here in Arizona, and thanks to a few honest politicians, we have referenda and recall. So Rick and Andy, better beware! Russell Pearce was the last to undergo recall, but you could be next!
You all have taken oaths to defend the Constitution. Republican Legislators had best start defending voter referenda like it was a part of the Constitution. David has our number and we are listening to what he has to say about your not wanting to listen to us.
Rational Human posted at 8:07 am on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
I don't think the voters had in mind replacing a legislature redistricting with a corrupt commission that favors one party over another. It sounded good on paper, but turned out to be as corrupt as any other system. The voters may very well be willing to allow the legislature that they voted into power to redraw the maps, instead of allowing the out of power party favoritism that has occurred under the flawed redistricting law. Even some of the liberal legislatures recognize the flaws in that commission. I bet you all vehemently denied that the US Supreme Court would ever decide to hear the case for SB1070 as well. I know Dale did.
sndvl55 posted at 9:15 am on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
The "Independent" Commission is a sham. It was a terrible idea 12 years ago when it was created and is a terrible idea today. Of course the power to draw the maps should be in the hands of our ELECTED officials and not a group of unaccountable, unelected hacks. We the people elect our representatives to represent us... we don't like it when our representation is taken away and given to unelected commissions. Anyone who believes the IRCC maps were created through a fair and impartial process is willfully blind to reality.
downtownresident posted at 9:46 am on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
This smacks of Karl Rove and dirty tricks.
After using every lie and dirty trick they could muster, the babies now want control of the cookie jar.
This disfunctional group of radicals wants to have everyone carry guns and now wants to corrupt the political process even more.
They should be ashmed, but wiith no conscience, how can they?
TeaPartyPatriot posted at 10:52 am on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
downtownrodent thinks this independent commission is impartial and not corrupt? He certainly must be a democRAT. This so called dysfunctional group of radicals you refer to are the majority of the voting citizenry of this state. Remember, November 2012 is rodent extermination month.
CooperG posted at 2:32 pm on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
Sour grapes from sore losers. If anyone thinks the legislature will create fair districts, they need to have their mental capacity checked. That's how we got the IRC in the first place.
You can't trust politicians.
In_God_We_Trust posted at 3:46 pm on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
What's fair got to do with it Cooper? Fact is that we still live in a representative democracy, despite the socialist party's desire that it not be. Fact is that whatever system you use there will be bias so why not allow the people you voted into power to make these decisions? The IRC was a nice experiment, not unlike communism, but it failed in it's primary purpose of this so called fairness you speak of. It's pretty obvious even to a democrat that it's not fair either. You can't trust politicians any better than you can trust the general public to not be biased and have prejudices. That is how people are and why we have elections that elect people who make the rules for us. Any attempt to subvert this republic will result in something more monstrous than anything we have now. Don't try to fundamentally change America. You'll just turn in into an even uglier monster. Maybe something akin to the old Soviet Union. The direction this once proud nation is turning saddens me greatly. Our founding fathers would turn over in their graves if they new what was in power in DC today.
downtownresident posted at 6:09 pm on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
TPP:
The dysfunctional group of radicals I spoke of is the legislature.
The, "majority of the voting citizenry of this state" you speak of, are mere sheep.
I'll see you in November. Or at the MAC on Feb. 22nd. I have VIP parking, do you?
Rational Human posted at 6:38 pm on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
Well we majority voters you call sheep voted for that legislature. For your information, the Federal Constitution has an obscure provision that guarantees that states have a "Republican form of Government". No matter how much you like the sound of direct Democracy, that's not our system. True, the courts have allowed the initiative process, but that process is in addition to the Legislative process. While the initiative process itself has been upheld, I don't believe that an initiative that can't be amended later is consistent with the Guarantee Clause. You have the right to vote, and you have the right to whimper and whine if things don't go your way, but you don't have the right to overrule our legislature. You do have the right to try though. Good luck.