Senate endorses Brewer's removal of redistricting official

[Ptah]

Source: Arizona Republic {Phoenix}

The GOP-controlled state Senate voted Tuesday evening to endorse Gov. Jan Brewer's removal of the chairwoman of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, triggering a rush to court and the likely start of an unprecedented constitutional battle.

The 21-6 vote to oust Colleen Coyle Mathis as the chairwoman of the commission came at the end of a drawn-out afternoon as Brewer, a Republican, pushed to find enough votes to also remove the independent commission's two Democrats. That failed, leaving only Mathis, a registered independent, as the casualty of a bruising political fight over the once-a-decade exercise of drawing new congressional and legislative boundaries.

In response, commission attorneys headed to Maricopa County Superior Court to seek a temporary injunction to block the Senate's action.

The actions are unprecedented in Arizona history; it's only the second time since the independent commission was established by voters 11 years ago that the panel has taken on the task of drawing political boundaries.





Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2011/11/01/20111101arizona-redistricting-brewer-wants-chair-Mathis-removed.html

[teddy51]

1. Pretty standard operating procedure for Republicans, if we can't win fairly

we'll just cheat.

[Old and In the Way]

2. That's the gameplan. retain power at all costs.

Eventually, maybe the idiots that continue to vote against their best interests will figure this out. When that happens, no amount of gerrymandering and voter suppression is going to save this criminal enterprise from their destiny.

[Ptah]

3. "over reliance on competitiveness"

The governor also cited a failure to properly adjust the "grid map" which started as the remapping process, and an over reliance on competitiveness as a factor in drawing new boundary lines.

[catgirl]

4. K&R

The title of this article is tamer than it should be. This is highway robbery and suppression of fair redistricting. Arizona has a dictator running the show.

[pacalo]

5. K&R. Getting Arizona ready for the 2012 election.

[lonestarnot]

6. Abuse of power in AZ. Apparently people are just used to it.