Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Redistricting -- AIRC heads to court

In the wake of the Arizona Senate voting 21-6 to remove Colleen Mathis from the chairmanship of the Independent Redistricting Commission, Mary O'Grady (since Joe Kanefield recused himself from this because of his work for the governor) has prepared filings and will be heading to the Arizona Supreme Court.

The AIRC does not know when the Arizona Supreme Court will consider a petition for special action (or whatever form the filings may take), but presumably we should hear something tomorrow.

During the Senate floor action this evening, reference was made in passing (but not part of the official motion to remove) to a letter from the governor to Mathis containing the justification for removal. Read the governor's letter here.

In the meantime, in spite of the faux righteous indignation expressed by senate Republicans when explaining their votes, observers with any capacity for critical thinking have to acknowledge that this, at minimum, has the strong appearance of being a partisan power grab. Since the GOP has had a full four months to formulate its strategy, they've done a superb job of convincing themselves that they are doing the people's bidding in righteous pursuit of openness in government.

That, however, stripped of all the decoration, looks a lot like an armed coup d'etat in a third world country.

The bottom line: it is still a steaming fresh pile of BULLSHIT.

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