Watch out, folks! Arizona’s Republicans are on the warpath.

They’re not out to gut the state’s public schools; they’ve already done that. They’re not talking out of both sides of their mouths, on one side whining about a federal “nanny state” while on the other telling cities how they can go about their business; they’ve already done that, too. They’re not even seeing to it that Arizona’s poor people can’t get life-saving transplants; that constituency is dwindling quite nicely, thank you.

No, the Republicans are up in arms because they found out that there is the possibility that, over the next 10 years, some Democrats might run in some elections, and might even … maybe … possibly (gasp!) get to serve in office. The Republicans, who hold a razor-thin 70 percent-to-30 percent edge in all of the state’s elected offices, are concerned that if the Democrats actually start winning a few races, they might start standing up for the dwindling middle class, and then, the next thing you know, democracy might start breaking out all over the place. And we can’t have that, now can we?

The specific focus of the ire of the Sore Winners’ Party is the Independent Redistricting Commission, the body mandated by the state constitution with drawing the state’s legislative and congressional district lines for the next decade.

I have to be very clear here: I have never had any problem with the old form of gerrymandering, allowing the party in power to draw the lines, with a little nudge from the feds to keep things from becoming totally Jim Crow. When I was growing up in California, Democratic state legislator Jesse Unruh used to draw districts that looked like octopodes. (That’s a rare, but still correct, plural form of “octopus.” I’m keeping it alive.) Willie Brown, Unruh’s successor, once had a district that was three blocks wide and 20 miles long. It served as a model when Marana annexed Ina Road. Certainly, there have been abuses over the decades (and centuries), but they’re not limited to just one party and they haven’t caused the downfall of any one state or the nation as a whole.

Nevertheless, in 2000, Arizona’s voters passed Prop. 106, which amended the state constitution to take the gerrymandering away from the State Legislature and put it in the hands of a five-member panel made up of two Democrats, two Republicans, and one independent. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see that that fifth person holds an inordinate amount of power on such a board, but that’s what the voters passed and that’s what the constitution says. (I’ve warned you people about “independent” voters.)

It would take a couple of pages of text to explain exactly how that fifth (independent) member—in this case, committee chair Colleen Mathis—is chosen, but suffice it to say, the Democrats played that part of the game a bit smarter than did the Republicans. Now, the Republicans are screaming for a do-over, fearing that the Democrats might actually get a fair shake in this whole process.

Leading the charge against the Independent Redistricting Commission is Republican state Rep. Terri Proud, who represents LD26. She was elected to the State Legislature in 2010 on a platform of “I hate Barack Obama, not because he’s black—which he is—but because he’s a Socialist, which I can’t really define, but I know it’s bad and I know he is one.”

As a matter of fact, I think that’s a direct quote from some of her campaign literature.

Last month, Proud sent out an e-mail to her supporters and the media in which she blasted the passage of the constitutional amendment and called for its repeal. In the e-mail, she misidentified the year in which then-Prop. 106 was passed as 1998. In that year, a few knuckleheads of the “independent” bent tried to get an initiative on the ballot that would have allowed open primaries. (That idea isn’t just stupid; it’s Bachmann stupid.) Anyway, had they gotten enough signatures, it would have been Prop. 106 on the 1998 ballot. They didn’t and it wasn’t. The “Fair Districts, Fair Elections” initiative was on the 2000 ballot and passed with a 56-44 margin.

Proud and her homies are livid that Colleen Mathis has shown a tendency to lean toward the Democrats. Commission member Richard Stertz says that the fix is in, based on the fact that the commission hired a computer company that once did some work for Barack Obama. Republican National Committeeman Bruce Ash claims that he already knows what the congressional districts are going to look like and that one will run the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border. And State Senator Al Melvin is afraid that the commission will separate SaddleBrooke, the Pinal County enclave of angry old people, from Oro Valley (in Pima County), where the Saddle- Brooke gub’mint haters go to cash their Social Security checks and spend their entitlement money. It’s all so Machiavellian.

The commission will be holding public meetings in South Tucson on Aug. 2; Sierra Vista on Aug. 4; and then finish up its Democracy Isn’t Painless Tour in Tucson on Aug. 6. Show up; carefully rehearsed entertainment will be provided by the last vestiges of the Tea Party.

This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 3, 2011.

19 replies on “Danehy”

  1. Seems like independents should be asking for more seats on the redistricting commission as they make up 1/3 of the voters. Hopefully, soon they will be booting narrow minded rep’s like Proud and Melvin out.

  2. Proud is a tool. She hasn’t got the brains to come up with this on her own, so who exactly is pulling her strings?

  3. So, Tom, what is your SOLUTION? Five Republicans on the Commission? Or five Democrats?

    How about five Independents?

  4. Blah, blah, blah…the Dems AND the Republicans….and dear Tom – continuing to go on and on and on and on with no suggestions of problem solving, no consideration that the whole country is going down the tubes while politicians still get paid to do nothing but criticize their opponents. Ridiculous to think that just going on and on about something offers anything other than more shineola. Tom, in recent columns you used to at least have some humor – today is just blah, blah, blah.

  6. So redistricting will make a little competition. Typically I thought that was the goal. The republicans in phoenix are crazy! That being said the Democrats here are just as bad if not worse. The fact that we still vote city wide for representation is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. Originally this was created to dilute minority votes in wards that didn’t have a white majority but now it still works for the Democrats advantage so they sue to keep the status quo. That’s a gerrymandering of a different color.

  7. For Pima Mujer and anyone else interested, it’s Frank Antenori pulling Ms. Proud’s strings. And we know why he wants to change or eliminate the IRC: he desperately wants a very safe congressional district all his own.

  8. Again, Tom, the facts dispute your interpretation. It happens that the constitutional amendment of 2000 included a number of requirements for district lines that have been interpreted by the courts as more important than ‘competitive.’ (“Communities of Interest” and “contiguity” are two of them. You can look it up.) In fact, if Mathis is moving that criterion up in importance, she is violating the constitutional requirements.

  9. The voters spoke in 2000, the constitution was amended, and the redistricting commission is playing by the rules in place. Whiners like Antenori, Melvin and Proud need to get over it and respect the law and the voters.

  10. Hey ChuckieJ,

    NO, the Arizona Supreme Court actually specifically said that COMPETITIVENESS is NO less important than the other criteria. You LIE!

  11. One day the Repugnants, will have to lick the streets clean with their tongue’s. Micky Smythe

  12. Pima county is infested with Dems, they have done nothing to help us in our neighbordhood, over the past 5 years, we have been asking for roads, that we have paid for! Where are all those shovel ready jobs that your idiot ?resident said we would have with the money he robbed from my children and grandchildren? Hmmmm? Dems are not happy unless they can get hand outs off the taxpayers backs, It is not up to us to support those that choose to sit on their rumps and have kid after kid and never take responsibility! This whole artical makes me sick, I hope we can get real conservatives in office instead of the frauds that sit there now and that includes RINO McCain!!!

  13. Tom, Tom, Tom.

    I know you have warned us in the past about independents, but for the life of me I cannot understand your angst. We now represent 1/3 of voters who cannot identify with either of the inbred political behemoths.

    This weekend we watch in amazement and disgust as the Democrats and Republicans engage in partisan politics while the nation teeters on the edge of economic disaster.

    Voting in either party’s primary is hardly a reason to sign up and be counted. That, if I remember correctly, is your (Tom’s) raison d’etre for party membership.

    No thanks.

    Many of us will continue to vote for the candidates we believe will best represent us, regardless of party affilitation.

    And “best represent us” is becoming more of a crap shoot with every election.

  14. Seems Tom, TW, AZ Star, local TV talking heads, et al, are hip with a certain member of the IRC breaking open meeting laws (discussing issues and votes before the committee with other members on the phone), bid rigging (falsely representing other bids to be higher than they truly are in order to get the preferred Democrat map vendor), as these actions benefit their preferred party. Well, I suppose there is always the explanation of ignorance in not reporting and discussing the law breaking in the IRC.

  15. Harry red dog,

    Your own comments destroy your argument. You say: “And “best represent us” is becoming more of a crap shoot with every election.”

    While earlier you state: Voting in either party’s primary is hardly a reason to sign up and be counted. That, if I remember correctly, is your (Tom’s) raison d’etre for party membership.”

    The reason we have crappy candidates is because only the crazies are voting in the primaries so we get choices like antenori and melvin.

  16. Octopodes…. spelchk doesn’t recognize it….
    Did wonder at one point of my life, never bothered to look it up since you don’t find many octopodes in the Arizona or in Tennessee… Anyway, how are you Tom? Been a while since we’ve conversed – sent you a Merry Christmas here – must have been busy.
    You might take a break though, too much news reading raises the blood pressure and you just don’t need that since we’re getting older. Be happy, at least you’re far away from Mordor D.C….. I can just about see the Eye of Obama from the Smoky Mountains.
    Besides, we’re just about equally screwed from both parties, don’t you think?
    Cheers buddy!

  17. Well the whole process seems to be part of why politics in Arizona are so insane. But if there is a way for common sense to prevail, then I think it should be taken as a victory.

  18. Pima county will be ripe for the taking for republicans and Tea Partiers, its just a matter of time. The Dems have done nothing for Pima county, just a bunch of empty suit windbags !

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