IRC chair hires former US Attorney for AG’s probe
Following a vote by the Independent Redistricting Commission to authorize the hiring of additional lawyers, IRC Chairwoman Colleen Mathis has secured the services of former Arizona U.S. Attorney General Paul Charlton.
IRC’s chairwoman hires former U.S. Attorney
Horne’s office will face a formidable legal opponent when it tries to convince a superior court judge to force three members of the IRC to cooperate with the AG’s investigation into potential open meeting law violations.
Horne: Redistricting commissioner claims chairwoman destroyed documents
One of Arizona’s redistricting commissioners told Attorney General Tom Horne that the commission’s chairwoman destroyed documents used to score mapping firms during a closed-door meeting.
IRC Democrat still leery of cooperating with AG probe
If Republican Attorney General Tom Horne would be willing to meet the Independent Redistricting Commission halfway, a Democrat on the panel said he would be prone to reconsidering his stance that he and his colleagues should resist cooperating with an investigation Horne launched last month.
Redistricting commissioner set to cooperate with AG investigation
More than a month after Attorney General Tom Horne announced an investigation into possible open meeting and procurement law violations by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, his attorneys will finally get to conduct their first interview with a commissioner Wednesday morning.
Redistricting commission unveils first set of maps
After months of administrative drudgery and political tumult the five-person panel charged with redrawing Arizona’s political districts released their first set of working maps Saturday.
IRC split on cooperating with AG investigation
The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission could stumble into another partisan divide, but this time it involves whether members will cooperate with Attorney General Tom Horne’s investigation into whether the commission violated open meeting and procurement laws when it hired a mapping consultant in June.
Attorney General Tom Horne announces redistricting commission investigation
Attorney General Tom Horne has announced his office has opened an investigation into the Independent Redistricting Commission in response to an investigation by Arizona Capitol Times and its sister publication, Yellow Sheet Report, that uncovered possible violations of the state’s open meeting and procurement laws.
How to buy the benefit of the doubt, for nothing
Several years ago I attended a government commission meeting where an appointed chairman openly rejected an assistant attorney general’s recommendation to convene an executive session.
“No, I don’t think we need an executive session to talk about this,” the chairman said, to the best of my recollection.
It’s not that every — or even most — public bodies are eage[...]
What we’re not IRC-ing: Map-drawing panel spends half its time meeting behind closed doors
Prior to voting to award a lucrative contract to a mapping consultant on June 29, the Independent Redistricting Commission had spent as much time in closed door executive meetings as it had before the public.
And public records held by the commission itself, as well as statements made by commissioners, indicate the IRC may have violated Arizona’s open meeting laws designed to maintain[...]
Horne asked to probe IRC, Mathis
Brewer's office isn't the only one to receive a landslide of complaints of the IRC's recent hiring of Strategic Telemetry or Mathis, whose vote was critical in securing the services of the firm.
Redistricting chairwoman admits to inaccuracies in her application for the role
At today’s meeting of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, Chairwoman Colleen Mathis admitted that her initial application omitted information about work her husband had done for a former Democratic lawmaker’s campaign.