NONPOLITICAL? MORE LIKE HYPERPOLITICAL

posted to Political Buzz by Michael Chihak

Give rural Arizona two congressional districts ... Maintain minority communities of interest ... Don't put Oro Valley in with the Navajo Nation ... Keep Pinal County in a single congressional district ... "Leave us alone; we're retired."

And many more admonitions, pieces of advice and aphorisms ("You cannot force people to speak to one another civilly") were offered to members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission this week as it continued its public hearings.

The commission is workin toward production of its first draft maps of how to divide the state into nine congressional districts and 30 legislative districts.

Under the state constitution, it must consider six criteria, led by adherence to the U.S. Voting Rights Act and the one-person, one-vote rule.

Commissioner Scott Freeman and commission Executive Director Ray Bladine say they think draft maps will be produced within two weeks. Then the real fun begins.

As Freeman puts it: "People will then be able to tell us the error of our ways."

Following release of the draft maps will come a 30-day comment period, including more public hearings. Then the commission makes adjustments and submits the maps to the U.S. Justice Department for "preclearance" under the Voting Rights Act, a process that can take 60 days.

Assuming Justice Department approval, the maps will be put into use next spring by county officials who will begin setting up the 2012 elections.

That's a significant assumption; the Justice Department sent the maps back 10 years ago for adjustments.

Even if they are approved, lawsuits by parties claiming to have been wronged are likely to ensue. Last time out, it took nearly the whole decade for the last of the suits to be settled.

DE TOCQUEVILLE WOULDN'T RECOGNIZE THIS

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

The work of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission is worth watching closely, not only for what it will do to political boundaries in the next decade, but for what it says about the dystopian state of our political system.

The commission’s work, beyond its constitutionally mandated goals, serves as both a commentary on and a reflection of our state and nation’s attitudes about majority rule in a democracy.

An outside observer, perhaps a 21st century De Tocqueville, might look at America now and say that we no longer possess the sense of equality that De Tocqueville saw in the 19th century, but that we have retained our sense of religious conviction along with its almost constant companion – hypocrisy.

That religion, by the way, is from the i’m-right-and-you’re-wrong house of worship.

All this has the potential to leave people disenfranchised.

Just do the math: in Arizona, 35 percent of registered voters are Republican, 31 percent are Democratic and 33 percent are registered with neither party, most calling themselves independent. Those are the voters dissatisfied with the two major parties, although disgusted might be a better description of how many feel.

So how does the attention given to the redistricting commission reflect this? By the way the two major parties are striving to influence its independence.

Politicians on both sides are regularly making pronouncements to the media and the public decrying the process.

The attorney general, a Republican, is investigating how the commission has conducted business and has challenged the one requirement of the commission, that its work meet the dictates of the U.S. Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voters.

The American religion of partisan politics is hampering, if not obfuscating, the independence, and our democracy is the worse off for it.

FRANKS INTRODUCES BILL TO BLOCK GAMING ON NEWLY ACQUIRED RESERVATION LANDS

posted to Political Buzz by Andrea Kelly

Several members of Arizona’s Congressional delegation are weighing in on a bill that could restrict the Tohono O’odham from building a casino near Glendale.

Arizona Congressman Trent Franks is sponsoring a bill to prevent tribes from building casinos on any land they’ve purchased in the past two decades to make up for land lost to federal flood areas. Read the bill here.

The bill is aimed at the Tohono O’odham Nation, which purchased land near Glendale, and wants to build a casino there. It would not be the only Indian casino in the Phoenix Metro area, there are already others.

In addition to Franks, the primary sponsor, four other Arizona House Republicans have signed up as cosponsors: they are Jeff Flake, Paul Gosar, Ben Quayle and David Schweikert.

Southern Arizona Democratic Congressman Raúl Grijalva said in a statement he opposes the bill because he said it opens the door to the federal government breaking other commitments and reneging on a promise to the tribes. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ office is not commenting on this legislation. Giffords' office spokesman Mark Kimble said the office is only commenting on legislation Giffords introduced in previous sessions, and this is a new bill.

Congressman Franks did not return attempts to contact him about the bill.

ARIZONA GOP DEBATE

posted to Political Buzz by Christopher Conover

The debate is scheduled for Phoenix and will focus on so-called new federalism. In recent years, the topic of federalism has gotten plenty of attention in Arizona as the state has challenged the federal government on health care, immigration, and the environment.

Republican Nation Committeeman Bruce Ash told Arizona Public Media that the top level candidates have agreed to participate in the debate. He also said hosting a primary debate does not necessarily keep the Grand Canyon State out of the running for a general election debate next year.

Last week, Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Michelle Bachman both made stops in Arizona.

WHAT'S AN ENDORSEMENT WORTH?

posted to Political Buzz by Michael Chihak

Colleague Andrea Kelly's blog posting on the endorsement by U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona of Mitt Romney for the GOP presidential nomination leads me to ask:

What's an endorsement worth?

For starters, Romney didn't return the favor by endorsing Flake in the U.S. Senate race in Arizona. Not yet.

Endorsement seekings are under way. To wit, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was in the state last week to meet with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to ask for his support.

Here are a couple of samples from recent history of the relative value of big-name political endorsements.

-- President Obama endorsed many a fellow Democrat who lost in last fall's mid-term elections, and he endorsed the Democrats who ultimately lost in a special U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts and last week's special U.S. House election in New York.

-- Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin endorsed more than three dozen "tea party" candidates in last fall's mid-term elections. Half of them won and half lost, including a U.S. Senate candidate in her home state of Alaska.

AZ REDISTRICTING? DO THE MATH

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

Doing the math is most important when it comes to congressional and legislative redistricting in Arizona.

It depends on who is doing the math and for what purpose. Richard Gilman, journalist and chief contributor to thinkingarizona.com, demonstrared so in an opinion piece he wrote that appeared in Sunday's [Arizona Daily Star(http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/article_6055df29-0b0d-52d3-9eb4-2cd63cb477fb.html).

Besides population equity, the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission must draw boundaries that comply with the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. Additionally, the boundaries should:

-- Be geographically compact and contiguous.

-- Respect communities of interest.

-- Use geographic features, city, town and county boundaries.

-- Allow for politically competitive districts "where to do so would create no significant detriment to the other goals."

Those requirements make the math much more complicated, and as is being demonstrated in some early numbers crunching, mean that most maps would have trouble fulfilling even four of the six goals.

For Friday's Arizona Week, we will look at the numbers and talk to those who would influence the process.