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ARIZONA STATE LEGISLATURE
Fiftieth Legislature – First Regular Session
JOINT LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE ON REDISTRICTING
Minutes of Special Joint Meeting
House Hearing Room 4 -- 1:30 p.m.
CoChairman Weiers called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. and attendance was noted by the secretary.
Members Present
Senator Pierce, CoChairman Representative Weiers J., CoChairman
Senator Biggs Representative Goodale
Members Absent
Senator Meza Representative Pancrazi (excused)
Consideration and Possible Adoption of Recommendation
Peter Gentala, House Counsel to Majority, introduced other staff members: Magdalena Jorquez, Majority Research Analyst; John Mills, Legislative Special Projects, and Greg Jernigan, Senate General Counsel. He noted that the Members were provided with a draft report to consider sending to the House of Representatives and the Senate regarding the constitutional authority of the Legislature to make comments on draft maps proposed by the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) (Attachment 1). The document outlines the major constitutional criteria the IRC is bound to follow under the Arizona Constitution and the finding of multiple violations of the constitutional criteria by the IRC during the mapping process. He proceeded to review the draft report and responded to questions.
John Mills, Legislative Special Projects, demonstrated mapping changes made by the IRC.
Mr. Gentala indicated that there are additional findings under Item 5 relating to use of visible geographic features that are not included in the document. At CoChairman Weiers’ request, he indicated that a revised copy will be provided shortly.
Public Testimony
Elizabeth Bernstein, representing self, stated that she recently returned from two years in the Peace Corps in Honduras. She was hoping that after seeing how the Honduran government worked, her colleagues would be eager to participate in the American electoral system, but she was dismayed to find that many are cynical and do not believe their vote makes a difference. She opined that cynicism has been increasing for a long time, which is one of the reasons she voted in 2000 to create the IRC. She said she believes it is appropriate for the Committee to make recommendations to the IRC, but when she read press reports suggesting that Members of the Legislature, rather than trying to participate in the redistricting process, stated that the voters were duped in 2000 or that they are stuck with the process the voters created, she would like to clarify that she was not duped because she wanted an independent process. She would like the process to go forward so all voters, young and old, can see that their votes do count for an initiative like Proposition 106 or for candidates.
CoChairman Weiers noted that the Committee cannot change anything; it can only make recommendations to the IRC to review or dismiss.
CoChairman Pierce pointed out that the Committee was originally bipartisan, but the Democrats chose to boycott and not participate in the meetings. He stressed that no Committee Members or the Legislature drew any maps, suggested any maps or plan to draw maps. The Committee’s job is to hear complaints from constituents and offer remarks to the IRC.
Shirley Dye, Payson Tea Party; Vice-President, Rim Country Republican Club; representing self, discussed the fact that competitiveness was the major consideration during some IRC meetings. She said proposed maps from people in eastern Arizona were not posted by the IRC until she brought it to their attention, yet maps were available from the Hispanic Coalition, City of Flagstaff, etc. She related the difficulties experienced in the mapping of districts in Gila County, noting that it is now split into three legislative districts (LD) when everyone worked diligently to pull the county together as one district. She submitted that much of the problem is the process.
Representative Jack Harper,
representing self, related that the IRC had an agreement to work with the
“donut hole” map, which became the “bagel” map, and on the day the IRC adopted
the CD map, it was switched without much scrutiny. He said he believes the IRC
violated the Arizona Constitution in relation to compactness in CD-4, and possibly
communities of interest. After the IRC adopted the CD map and began working on
the LD maps, while watching the video stream, he heard a female commissioner
state that a boundary could not be moved because a minority incumbent’s
residence would be removed from the district, which, he submitted, is a
violation of the Arizona Constitution. He asked the Committee to adopt a
resolution or encourage Governor Jan Brewer and the Senate to impeach at least
Commissioners
Linda McNulty and Colleen Mathis for incompetence in not following the Arizona Constitution
in drafting the maps.
A. J. LaFaro, Chairman, Legislative
District 17 Republicans, read a letter from
Thomas P. Morrissey, Chairman, Arizona Republican Party, with an attached resolution
that was unanimously passed at the Arizona Republican Party Executive Committee
meeting on
October 29, 2011 (Attachment 2). The resolution condemns the actions of the
IRC and recommends removal of its five members by the Governor, requests that
Attorney General
Tom Horne continue his criminal investigation and civil litigation against the
IRC and that Majority Leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives make
written recommendations in the best interest of the citizens of Arizona.
Wesley Harris, Chairman, North Phoenix Tea Party, representing self, opined that the redistricting process has been an egregious and “in your face” procedure on the part of the Democrat commissioners, from the granting of the mapping contract to the final draft maps. Requesting citizen preparation of maps is a sham. He noted that he personally drew two maps and others drew more that were accepted but not considered by the IRC, with the exception of maps for minority-majority districts drafted by the Hispanic Coalition for Good Government and the Minority Coalition (now CD-3 and CD-7). The IRC hired attorneys to represent commissioners against the County Attorney, which is basically using tax dollars to fight tax dollars, and after the Governor’s request for answers, the IRC hired three more attorneys with taxpayer money, which is unacceptable.
Lynne Breyer, business owner, representing self, related that she was present when the draft CD map was adopted, but there was no second to the motion so she is not certain it was legally adopted. One opportunity was provided for citizens to comment in Yuma, but the meeting times were changed twice. She received an email from someone who watched online. The IRC went into executive session from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., after which the commissioners left, and people who waited all that time never got to speak. She added that lines on the maps for LD-9 and surrounding areas cut through residential neighborhoods, separate houses on the same street, jump across major thoroughfares to pick up a few blocks, then jump back, and remove Congressmen David Schweikert and Ben Quayle from their current districts. The IRC did not follow the requirements of Proposition 106.
Consideration and possible adoption of a recommendation (continued)
Greg Jernigan, Senate General Counsel, reviewed a revised report containing five additional bullet points on page 4 under Item 5, with the exception of the last bullet point that was previously included (Attachment 3).
Senator Biggs moved that the Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting adopt the Arizona Joint Legislative Redistricting Committee Report dated October 31, 2011 (Attachment 3) and recommend to the Senate and the House of Representatives that the report be adopted and forwarded to the IRC. The motion carried.
Representative Goodale moved that the Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting adopt the Arizona Joint Legislative Redistricting Committee Report dated October 31, 2011 (Attachment 3) and recommend to the Senate and the House of Representatives that the report be adopted and forwarded to the IRC. The motion carried.
Without objection, the meeting adjourned at 3:18 p.m.
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Linda Taylor, Committee Secretary
November 16, 2011
(Original minutes, attachments and audio on file in the Chief Clerk’s Office; video archives available at http://www.azleg.gov)
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JLC ON REDISTRICTING
October 31, 2011
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