The Arizona Democratic Party submitted a complaint on Monday to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, asking him to investigate whether a couple of members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) violated the Arizona Constitution by drawing district boundary lines to protect at least three incumbent Republican state senators. Executive Director Charlie Fisher, who signed the letter, also asked the attorney general’s office (AGO)to determine if the members violated Arizona’s Open Meeting law, and whether members, as well as senators and their staff, improperly used state resources and funds.
The moves may have been done to include significant Republican enclaves in heavily Republican districts, not to just grab a single senator’s residence. State Senator Vince Leach (R-Tucson), one of the senators who was accused of being gerrymandered into a heavily Republican district, explained to The Arizona Sun Times about the area he lives in that was included, “Catalina has always been in LD 11. Since the election of 2012.”
Fisher said that an early proposed map of the redistricting in October 2021 placed State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) in Legislative District (LD) 6, an overwhelmingly Democratic district, but the final legislative map was adjusted so she was in LD 7, an overwhelmingly Republican district. Similarly, Fisher said State Senator Sine Kerr (R-Buckeye) was initially going to be placed in heavily Democratic LD 22 but ended up in LD 25. And finally, Leach was slated to be in a very competitive district, LD 16, but ended up in overwhelmingly Republican LD 17.
Read the rest of the article at The Arizona Sun Times
