Congratulations to Marc Jeremiason, Matthew Papke, David Peterson, Eli Rothrock and Andrew Slater, our first appointed PCs of 2012! (from the PC list at recorder.maricopa.gov – updated 1/18)

Congratulations to LD17's own Dan Schultz and Andrew Costanzo, 2 of 5 Members-At-Large to the Executive Guidance Committee of the Maricopa County Republican Committee elected at Saturday's mandatory meeting!

(photo courtesy of trugop.org)

The Arizona Republican Party State Mandatory Meeting is Saturday, January 28, 2012 at the Church For The Nations  at 6225 N Central Ave in Phoenix. Registration opens at 8:00 am. The meeting begins at 9:00 am.  All State Committeemen elected prior to the 2011 County Statutory Meeting are required to attend. If you are unable to attend this meeting, please arrange for any registered Republican in Legislative District 17 to carry your proxy. Forms are available here (second-to-last page).

The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) Mandatory Meeting is Saturday January 14, 2012 at the Church For The Nations at 6225 N Central Ave in Phoenix. Registration opens at 7:30 am. The meeting begins at 9:00 am. All Precinct Committeemen (PCs) elected or appointed prior to November 16, 2011 are eligible to vote or run for office at this meeting. Five members-at-large (MAL) will be elected to the Executive Guidance Committee (EGC).

If you are unable to attend this meeting, please arrange for any registered Republican in your precinct to carry your proxy. Forms are available here (third-to-last page).

Candidates running for Member-at-Large:

Elbert ‘Bick’ Bicknell - LD12

Frank Carroll - LD4 - withdrawn

Andrew Costanzo - LD17

Donna Duggins - LD10

Daniel Grimm* - LD19

Wes Harris - LD6

Joseph Hobbs* - LD12

Raymond Johnson - LD9

John Lyon - LD12

Nancy Palmer - LD4

Bernard Paluch - LD4

Daniel Schultz* - LD17

Ray Sweeney - LD11

*Incumbent

                    

I support Governor Brewer and the Arizona Legislature in calling for a special session to refer to the ballot a referendum to repeal the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission and thus end the manipulation of election boundaries by a majority of three. By restoring that authority to 90 elected and accountable individuals instead of five un-elected and un-accountable individuals Arizona will stop the redistribution of votes and restore representative democracy to Arizona!

Sign Now

We were privileged to hear from three candidates running for the US Senate and one for Tempe City Council at our last district meeting.

      

         Clair Van Steenwyk                        Bryan Hackbarth                       Douglas McKee

                                                                           Joe Pospicil

May we all please stick to the facts regarding Governor Brewer, the state senate, and Arizona's Independent Redistricting commission (IRC)? In clearly written language, the voters of Arizona specifically charged the governor and state senate with the obligation to watch over the IRC. Here’s what the Arizona Constitution says:  "After having been served written notice and provided with an opportunity for a response, a member of the Independent Redistricting Commission may be removed by the governor, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the [state] senate, for substantial neglect of duty, gross misconduct in office, or inability to discharge the duties of office." The Arizona Constitution prohibits the IRC from gerrymandering the districts—yet that’s exactly what the IRC did. The AZ Constitution requires the districts to 1) be compact, 2) respect communities of interest, and 3) respect natural boundaries.  ONLY ONCE THESE REQUIREMENTS ARE MET FIRST, can the IRC then make the districts competitive. However in this case, the IRC sacrificed those requirements in order to first create competitive districts.  No one denies that the districts were gerrymandered. Just one example: Newly- drawn Congressional District 1 has Kingman down to Yuma swinging over to include Prescott and Payson down to Queen Creek - - all in the same district.  This is quite literally by definition, "unconstitutional".  Thus, what has occurred is a clear violation of the constitutional requirements.

(via Wendy Rogers)

Governor Brewer created a firestorm last week when she demanded that the Independent Redistricting Commission explain its actions.  Naturally, there was a lot of coverage this weekend and unfortunately, most of it was wrong.

I recognize that this is a complex issue so I'm not ready to say that the media is intentionally creating a false narrative.  I think they have simply fallen for some mythology.  So let's debunk the four main myths.

Myth 1:  The Republicans are going to remove the commissioners because they don’t like the lines.

This myth is a Democratic Party talking point that is circulated by the media as a fact.

KJZZ’s Dennis Lambert reported on the letter today and offered up this reason for her actions.   “The Governor, and many Republicans, claim the congressional lines drawn by the panel favor Democrats.”

Here’s how Mike Sunnucks put it on Horizon last Friday:

Violating the open meetings laws, picking a mapping firm that had ties to Obama and drawing lines that the Republicans don’t like.  That’s their dereliction of duty.

Those two explanations are just Democratic Party talking points.  To his credit, Horizon host Ted Simons tried to correct Mike Sunnucks, but didn’t quite get it right:

Not necessarily, what she’s basically saying and what Republicans are saying is that the commission is not doing what it’s mandated to do and that is to look at all sorts of things, not just competitiveness.

Actually, the basis for the suit is that the Constitution prohibits the IRC from gerrymandering the districts—yet that’s exactly what the IRC did.  The Constitution requires the districts to be compact, respect communities of interest and respect natural boundaries.  Once these requirements are met, the IRC can make the districts competitive.  In this case, the IRC sacrificed those requirements in order to create competitive districts.  NO ONE denies that the districts are gerrymandered. This is a clear violation of the Constitutional requirements.

Here's an appropriate way to frame the issue.  "Republicans claim that the IRC violated its constitutional mandate by gerrymandering the map so that the resulting districts are not compact, and do not respect communities of interest or natural boundaries.  Democrats for their part charge that the Republicans simply don't like the lines that the IRC has drawn.

Read more

(via Espresso Pundit)

Please immediately call Sen. David Schapira at 602.926.3028 and/or email him at dschapira@azleg.gov and demand that he remove all five Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) members at the special session to be called by Gov. Brewer.