You wouldn’t naturally expect people to become angry before a state commission redraws Arizona’s legislative and congressional districts, but thanks to the trending wave of dysfunction, that’s exactly what has happened.

In regards to the article, “Commissioners eye free mapping software, say it could be used differently than creators intended” Arizona Capitol Times, May 8, we offer the following to address concerns noted by some of the members of Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission.

Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commissioners split along party lines Friday over who will serve as the group’s legal counsel, with the commission’s independent chair siding with the Democrats to select the firms Ballard Spahr and Osborn Maledon.

Although all five members of Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission have said they're either aware of, or had logged into, the online mapping software that was released to the public recently by the Arizona Competitive Districts Coalition, which has a stated goal of increasing the number of “competitive districts,” they don't all agree about how it will be used.

During a closed-door executive session last week, Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission selected the final two candidates vying to serve as the agency’s executive director.

The commission interviewed five candidates, selected from among several dozen more, for several hours during the private April 14 meeting, then chose two of the five for additional interviews April 20 – this time in public.

The last statement James Huntwork made as a member of the first Independent Redistricting Commission in his last meeting in June 2009 was that the next IRC would need “a lot of money.”

How much money the newly seated IRC will need is a mystery.

But the thinking of those involved with the first one is that the legal disputes, which consumed so much money last time, will be fewer this time.

The four partisan members of the Independent Redistricting Commission appointed a politically independent chairwoman on Tuesday, and made public pledges to cooperate with each other through what some believe will turn into anything but a nonpartisan task.

The top two legislative leaders of the Arizona House of Representatives have selected the first two member of the Independent Redistricting Commission.

State legislators have begun the final step of appointing nominees to the Independent Redistricting Commission, which will redraw the boundaries of the state’s legislative and congressional districts. The process kicked off Monday, Jan. 31, as Republican House Speaker Kirk Adams selected Scott Freeman, an attorney from Maricopa County, to serve as a commission member.