Panel to screen applicants for redistricting short list

Steve Lynn, who chaired Arizona’s inaugural Independent Redistricting Commission, said the next group of five commissioners who will draw Arizona’s legislative and congressional district boundaries should be compatible, non-partisan and from geographically diverse parts of the state.

Lynn is scheduled to offer his advice Nov. 16 when the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments meets to screen 78 applicants for the Independent Redistricting Commission.

The first thing he’ll say is that “personality actually matters,” and the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments should take into account an applicant’s demeanor.

“If you get five people in there who are smarter than everybody else and all have their own mind about how things ought to be done, then you’re not likely to get a good result,” Lynn said.

The selection commission, which has until Jan. 8 to provide legislative leaders with 25 nominees, has scheduled the entire day for its review.

The House speaker, Senate president and the two minority leaders from those chambers each get to choose one member of the Independent Redistricting Commission. After those four new members are sworn in, they choose the fifth, nonpartisan member.

In choosing the 25 nominees – 10 Republican, 10 Democrat and five independent – the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments should take a long look at the item pertaining to political involvement, Lynn said.

“If they see candidates who have been staunchly involved and partisan, I might think twice about putting them on the list because the over-partisanship or ideology doesn’t lend itself to the kind of work that you have to do,” Lynn said.

Redistricting commissioners must be committed to producing fair districts and committed to following the law, which is complex and often contradictory, Lynn said.

Lynn’s last piece of advice is to keep geographic diversity in mind when selecting nominees, since as many as three people from the same county can end up on the commission.

“If that county is Maricopa, then the inference around the state will be the great state of Maricopa is again dictating what everybody else has to do,” Lynn said.

Choosing a diverse group could be a chore because there are 50 applicants from Maricopa County and 14 from Pima County. Cochise, Coconino, Graham and Mohave counties each have one applicant, while Navajo, Santa Cruz, Yavapai, Yuma and the fastest growing county in the state – Pinal – each have two.