Brewer (Danny Johnston/AP)
Arizona's Republican Gov. Jan Brewer and the Republican-controlled state Senate on Tuesday night removed the state's redistricting chair--a move that Arizona Democrats contend is designed to protect Republican incumbents in 2012.The governor on Tuesday urged the Senate to oust Colleen Mathis for creating what Brewer described as a "cloud of suspicion that will not lift" over the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. "I will not sit idly by while Arizona's congressional and legislative boundaries are drawn in a fashion that is anything but Constitutional and proper," Brewer said in a statement.
The state Senate heeded Brewer's call, voting 21 to 6 along party lines in favor of removing Mathis from her post.
But Democrats and other critics say that questions of constitutional legitimacy didn't enter into the vote to remove Mathis--rather, they say it was an act of pure partisanship.
"Today, Arizona's Republican politicians showed they are willing to violate the Constitution and the rule of law in order to perpetuate their own power," Andrei Cherny, chair of the Arizona Democratic party said in a statement Tuesday. "Every honest person in the state agrees that this is not about 'substantial neglect of duty' or 'gross misconduct in office.' It is about protecting the careers of Republican congressmen at the expense of good government and fair elections."
"Governor, your intrusion into the judicial realm is surreal," the Arizona Republic's editorial board wrote Sunday.
"Let's look at the real reason some or all of the commissioners are facing the chopping block: the draft map of congressional districts. Republicans are furious, claiming it's drawn to undermine sitting GOP congressmen and benefit Democratic ones."
The commission, created in 2000 to handle redistricting following the 2010 census, was made up of two Democrats, two Republicans and Mathis--a registered independent. Republicans say Mathis displayed bias in drawing up the redistricting maps. Mathis has denied the allegations and supporters have come to her defense.
The commission is preparing to initiate legal action Wednesday to keep Mathis in her post, the Arizona Republic reports. Republicans argue that the Senate's decision is binding.
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