As the 2012 elections draw nearer, the battle over redistricting based by on the 2010 census is heating up in several states.

 

With the help of the Republican-controlled state Senate, Governor Jan Brewer this week removed the chairwoman of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, Colleen Coyle Mathis. The commission, tasked with drawing new political boundaries for the state’s legislative and congressional districts, is made up of two Democrats, two Republicans and one independent. Mathis, who makes her living as the government funding manager for the University of Arizona Health Network, is the independent.

 

In July and August, the commission held a series of 23 public hearings. Then, on October 3, the commission approved a draft map for congressional districts by a vote of 3-1 with one abstention, and on October 10, they approved a state legislative map 4-1. The next day, the commission began another series of 30 public hearings to discuss the maps.

 

However, Brewer and other GOP politicians insist that Mathis committed “gross misconduct” by failing to conduct commission meetings in public, which would represent a violation of the state Open Meeting Law.

 

The governor also said the commission was trying to make some Republican-held seats more competitive, which prompted Democrats and some observers to accuse Brewer of committing a power grab for the sake of helping her party. Voter registration is almost evenly split among Republicans, independents and Democrats. However Republicans hold five of the state’s eight congressional seats and more than two-thirds of the seats in the state Senate.

 

On Tuesday, November 2, state Senate Republicans voted to approve Brewer’s firing of Mathis.

 

Commission attorneys, claiming Brewer exceeded her authority and did not give Mathis the chance to respond to the charges against her, intend to appeal Mathis’ ouster to the state Supreme Court.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Arizona Redistricting Chief Ousted (by Mary Jo Pitzl, Arizona Republic)