Gov. Jan Brewer responds to the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to reverse her removal of Independent Redistricting Chairwoman Colleen Mathis:
Today’s decision by the Arizona Supreme Court is deeply regrettable. I am disappointed, certainly. More important, this misguided ruling bodes ill for the integrity of redistricting in this state.
Only after much deliberation did I act to remove the Chairwoman of the Independent Redistricting Commission. In doing so, I wielded a constitutional authority specifically granted by the voters of this state for cases in which the Governor — in his/her judgment — found that an IRC member had committed gross misconduct or acted with substantial neglect of duty. With today’s decision, the Court has substituted its judgment and authority for that which the voters specifically assigned to the Governor.
Let’s not forget why we’re here: The IRC followed an unconstitutional redistricting process, conducting too much of its business behind closed doors and disregarding mapping criteria seemingly at will. They did all of this without explanation. Knowing that redistricting is a once-a-decade process, it is critical that Arizona get it right.
With its reinstatement of the IRC Chairwoman, the Supreme Court has averted its eyes from the Commission’s misdeeds. The Chairwoman’s actions to meet in secret, arrange critical votes in advance of meetings and twist the words and spirit of the Constitution have been forgiven—if not endorsed outright.
The clearest victim in this matter is a redistricting process that voters intended to be honest, impartial and transparent. In the coming days, I’ll be considering my options as to how best to proceed.
What happens next? Does Brewer make another run at removing Mathis—and perhaps the Democrats on the IRC as well? Does the IRC move to approve the maps before Brewer can strike again? Stayed tuned, folks—this fight may have a few rounds left.
This article appears in Nov 17-23, 2011.
Jan and her mouthpiece, Matt Benson are skilled in the art of Orwellian juxtaposition.
“The Chairwoman’s actions to meet in secret, arrange critical votes in advance of meetings and twist the words and spirit of the Constitution”
Replace the word “Chairwoman” with “Governor” and you have an accurate description of the Governor’s actions to remove Mathis.
I think most people are aware of her reasoning for removing Mathis, and it has absolutely nothing to do with serving the best interests of the state, or its people. Her statement above is an insult to the intelligence of everyone reading it.
A firing winds up in the Supreme Court and you wonder why no one is hiring citizens of the United States of America. This will be great fun for all, but especially fun for the lawyers.
And let’s not forget how the senate that approved her actions has worked hard to undermine the same open meeting laws they’re now “protecting.”
our gov seems to have forgotten who actually runs this state. We do the people tellher and all our pols what we want so we can live . Now lets hope the people of this state remember what to place here next election and vote out all of those who used our gov to ramrod their personal agenda down our throats…..