Political Buzz – July 2011
posted by Andrea Kelly
Arizona's Attorney General, Tom Horne, continues to look into two allegations that the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission may not be doing business on the up-and-up.
His office received a complaint that the commission had violated open meetings laws and that it didn't follow a proper procurement policy when hiring contractors, including the company that will assist in drawing the congressional and legislative district maps.
Horne said today he's continuing to look into the complaints.
"There's a lot of public interest in this so I've asked people to give it a priority and do it as soon as possible," Horne said.
"We are going to be investigating the documents the minutes of the executive session and interviewing the commission members and doing whatever else we need to do to ensure there have been no violations of open meeting laws or procurement laws. If we find no violations, I think people will be relieved to find that out. If we do find violations, then we'll have to pursue them," Horne said.
Last week, Ray Bladine, the executive director of the redistricting commission, said in an interview the commission followed the state procurement policy for hiring its contractors. That policy requires meetings to be held in executive session, not accessible to the public.
July 28th 2011 at 16:43 —
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posted by Andrea Kelly
Two Mesa-area Republicans stepped up this week to run against Republican Russell Pearce in his recall election.
Olivia Cortes and Jerry Lewis have filed paperwork with the state to launch their campaigns. They join independent candidate Tommy Cattey, who is also hoping to be on the recall ballot. They’ll each need to turn in signatures from voters in the Mesa legislative district before they qualify for the ballot. Pearce doesn’t need to do that, the recall process means he’s already on the ballot.
Any number of candidates can run in this recall election. Whoever earns the most votes in the election will be the next Senator in legislative district 18. The term expires next year, so the winner would serve just one year, and could run for reelection in 2012.
One other candidate filed to run for the seat, but it's unclear at this point whether Democrat Robert McDonald is entering the recall race, or readying for a 2012 campaign.
July 27th 2011 at 16:06 —
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posted by Andrea Kelly
Republicans still claim the largest party registration in the state, with a little more than a third of the registered voters here joining the party.
Democrats and independents come in just under a third of the state's voters, while Libertarians and Greens still claim less than 1 percent of the registered voters in Arizona.
Total voter registration fell in Pima County after the 2010 election, and all parties have lost ground with voters here in that time. The only category of registered voters that grew in Pima County since November 2010 was "other," including people who select no party or independent on their voter registration forms.
Pima County voter registration:
Democrats 182,707
Republicans 148,823
Other 143,602
Libertarians 3,830
Greens 1,242
Voter registration statewide:
Republicans 35 percent
Democrats 31 percent
Other 33 percent
Libertarians less than 1 percent
Greens less than 1 percent
July 26th 2011 at 8:45 —
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posted by Andrea Kelly
Arizona's Independent Redistricting Commission wants to hear from you, even though the part of their work most voters are likely interested in — the new map of voting districts — isn't yet available.
The Commission is holding public hearings throughout the state (find the dates and agendas here) to find out what people want to see in the new districts. The idea is to get some feedback before drawing the map, to incorporate those comments into the mapping process, said Ray Bladine, the commission's executive director.
Another round of public hearings will be scheduled this fall a draft of the map is available, Bladine said. The commission then hopes to get the map to the U.S. Justice Department in November. The department must approve the map before the new districts are official.
All of this needs to be finished before the 2012 election.
July 25th 2011 at 15:45 —
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posted by Andrea Kelly
The Americans Elect Party is the newest political party in Arizona.
The party joins the Democrat, Green, Libertarian and Republican parties, and means candidates can be officially recognized on the ballot.
To become an official party, the group had to collect 23,041 signatures from voters in the state, including from each of the 15 counties in Arizona. The Secretary of State's office verified the signatures this week.
"Americans Elect is the first-ever open nominating process. We're using the Internet to give every single voter—Democrat, Republican or independent—the power to nominate a presidential ticket in 2012. The people will choose the issues. The people will choose the candidates. And in a secure, online convention next June, the people will make history by putting their choice on the ballot in every state," says the Americans Elect website.
July 21st 2011 at 9:41 —
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posted by Andrea Kelly
The voter registration deadline is approaching for those who want to vote in Tucson's upcoming primary election. The deadline to register is Aug. 1 The primary election is Aug. 30.
The entire election is by mail this year, so those who need to update their mailing address must also do so by Aug. 1. That will ensure they receive a ballot in time to vote and mail it back to the city to be counted.
Tucson's west side ward one has two Democrats running, Joe Flores is challenging incumbent Regina Romero. Two Democrats are also running write-in campaigns to challenge the party's mayoral candidate, Jonathan Rothschild.
Wards two and four are also up for election this year, but they do not have primary races. The incumbent Democrats in those east side wards will face Republican challengers in the November general election.
July 20th 2011 at 9:42 —
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