Mathis refutes open meeting allegations
Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission Chairwoman Colleen Mathis responded Monday for the first time about allegations that she violated open meeting laws, acknowledging that she spoke with two Republican commissioners about a mapping consultant but denying that the conversations were illegal or improper.
IRC will hire attorneys for Brewer inquiry
The embattled Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission will hire attorneys for three members in response to Gov. Jan Brewer’s demands for information about allegations of serious misconduct.
GOP staffer claims IRC gerrymandered maps; Dems promise complaint
A Republican legislative attorney claimed today that the state’s redistricting commission gerrymandered its maps to benefit certain Democratic incumbents and harm GOP politicians.
Democratic leadership from both chambers of the Legislature promised to file a complaint that the testimony to the committee represents a violation of the prohibition against state employees being involved in pa[...]
Horne disqualified from investigating IRC
Attorney General Tom Horne will no longer be able to pursue an open meeting law investigation into members of the Independent Redistricting Commission, as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge has ruled the attorney general is saddled with an existing conflict of interest.
Payson has next Arizona redistricting hearing
The state redistricting commission's road show of its draft congressional and legislative maps continues Wednesday evening with a public hearing in Payson.
IRC approves legislative draft map on 4-1 vote
Despite objections about a lack of competitiveness, divisions of like-minded communities and concerns that some regions were given more consideration than others, the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission approved a draft legislative map, one day before it begins a 30-day series of public hearings.
Another one of life’s unsolved mysteries
The constitutional language that governs the IRC is very clear that the panel cannot draw its maps with the homes of incumbents or candidates in mind, but some railbirds were left scratching their heads after seeing that the IRC draft congressional map made significant changes that directly affected a handful of incumbents and candidates.
Keep that eraser handy
Scores of angry Pinal County residents showed up at the IRC’s meeting on Friday to complain about their county being split into five separate districts, a move that led Mathis to spend the weekend redrawing the lines to put Pinal into just two districts, not counting a sliver of Tohono O’odham land in the southwest corner of the county.
IRC votes to OK congressional draft map; Republicans object
The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission today approved a congressional draft map that includes a competitive district in the middle of the Phoenix area, voting 3-1 over objections from the two Republican members. Independent Chairwoman Colleen Mathis and Democratic Commissioners Jose Herrera and Linda McNulty voted for the map, while Republican Commissioner Richard Stertz voted against[...]
Redistricting commission approves ‘donut’ map; Dems call it rotten
Arizona’s five redistricting commissioners will begin filling the hole in the center of their “donut” congressional district plan today.
And although the decision to use the "donut" map shows more momentum than the commission has demonstrated in recent weeks, the plan has won opposition.
Redistricting commission files suit seeking to halt Horne’s investigation
The state redistricting commission today filed a lawsuit seeking to stop Attorney General Tom Horne’s investigation into whether the commission violated open meetings laws during the hiring of its mapping firm in June.
Redistricting chairwoman pushes ‘donut hole’ map for congressional districts
The chairwoman of the Independent Redistricting Commission wants the panel to take a fill-in-the-blanks approach to re-mapping the state's political districts, asking her fellow commissioners to tentatively adopt a map that leaves blank nearly the entire Phoenix metro area, which would include four of the state’s nine congressional districts.