Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

When people would complain about the mid-decade redistricting that occured in Texas before the last year, I would point out that because of our Independent Redisticiting Commission, it could not happen in Arizona.

Well, yes and no.

What Rep. Tom DeLay did in Texas would be constitutionally impossible here. Instead we have the IRC draw the lines. The whole idea is that an independent panel would be, well, free of biases. Of course they aren’t. The chairman must be a registered independent. Chairman Steve Lynn, while being someone that sends money to the occassional Democrat, has been a close ally of people like Rep. Jim Kolbe who have a personal stake in the outcome of the process. I can go on about this, but it isn’t even the problem anymore.

The problem goes back to what the panel was charged with doing. The purpose in the ballot ammendment that passed was to create “fair districts,” that is, more districts where there is actual electoral competition. Unfortunately, the people on the redistricting panel didn’t seem to see it this way.

When their work was complete in late 2001, the number of competitive districts increased from four or five to…four or five. Yes, that’s four or five out of thirty. I attended their final meeting in Tucson, and they became seriously irritated when people would bring up the fact that they had done nothing to create fair districts. Without the idea of fair districts, we may as well go back to having the maps drawn by legislative staff.

I don’t need to go into a full run down of the lawsuits, it is too confusing. But, the commission was ordered to get back together and come up with another map, called the “April 12th Map.” The map makes district 26 into a slightly less Republican district, taking some Democrats out of 27 and 28. The district would remain Republican, but it means that the Democrats could pull off a win should the Republicans nominate an out of touch extremist. The impact in the Phoenix area is much more dramatic. The most entertaining impact is that Rep. Jim Weiers would be drawn into a neighboring Democratic district. Several districts could also become competitive as well, raising the state total to between seven and nine. These changes may not bring the Democrats control of either chamber, but it could mean its more possible to build alliances with reasonable Republicans.

The trouble is, the map may not actually be implemented. There was a question about whether or not the commission could even meet, then a question about whether the legislature would fund the group further, then a question of whether they need to wait for the action of a judge to make the map official. No one is sure if all of this hemming and hawing will be done by the time of the next elections. Earlier this week, I heard Rep. Phil Lopes tell the Democrats of Greater Tucson that he didn’t think the maps would be ready in time.

With a relatively narrow registration advantage, the Republicans have been able to control the legislature for most of the last thirty years. The last redistricting created a new set of problems by making the districts so lopsided that even the most far-right Republicans could cruise to election with little real competition. So, we are now controlled by a narrow-minded cabal of extremists that only need to keep a couple of thousand primary voters happy. It would have been helpful for the redistricting commission to remember this when they started their work.

When will these people start listening to me…

Desert Rat Democrat has added me to his links. You should check him out. His entries tend not to be as comprehensive (okay, long winded…) as mine, but are more action oriented. For example, he is calling on his readers to get Karl Rove fired. A bit quixotic, but its such things that make us more fun than the other side. Desert Rat talks a bit too much about the Sun Devils (shame about that college world series…), but I think I can put up with him.

I’ve also been added to Catholic Girl’s Bad Catholic site. My plan for world domination has neared it’s denouement.