Map panel cuts Flag ties to Rez

03/02/2004

Associated Press

TEMPE -- The state's redistricting commission on Monday met a court-set deadline by unanimously adopting a new legislative map that creates additional competitive districts.

Among the changes is one that makes Flagstaff Mayor Joe Donaldson very happy. Flagstaff and its Metropolitan Planning Organization remain whole, in a district with Lake Havasu City and Bullhead City instead of with the Navajo Nation.

Flagstaff-area officials said they like the proposed map because it would put their area in a district with Mohave County communities, not with the much more populous Navajo Reservation. That would give Flagstaff an improved chance of seeing lawmakers elected from that area.

However, a Navajo Nation official criticized the change, saying the swap of Flagstaff for Kingman would slightly reduce the percentage of voting-age American Indians in the Navajos' district.

That percentage already is significantly below the percentage of voting-age American Indians in the 1990s map that included the Navajo Reservation, Chief of Staff Leonard Gorman said.

Donaldson praised the effort he, the city council, city staff and citizens put into influencing the revised and improved district. Former mayor Chris Bavasi and Mitch Strohman of the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce were among those at Monday's hearing to support the city's position. The commission also received 31 e-mails supporting the proposed district that favors Flagstaff and only five from the Kingman area questioning the change, Donaldson said.

"It took all of us together working as a community to get this done," he said. "We can pat ourselves on the back for a job well done as a community."

Donaldson also said the city looks forward to developing stronger relationships with the other cities in its new district, and to maintaining and strengthening relationships with the Navajo Nation and other current partners.

The map's eight districts deemed winnable by either major party double the number under the map used in the 2002 election and later approved for use the rest of the decade. The eight also are one more than required by Judge Kenneth Fields of Maricopa County Superior Court.

Fields on Jan. 16 struck down the 2002 map as unconstitutional, ruling that the commission's efforts to create competitive districts were too little, too late.

The judge gave the commission 45 days -- a period that ended Monday -- to draw a new map with at least seven competitive districts.

The commission is to present the new map to Fields during a hearing Friday.

The commission is appealing Fields' ruling, and commissioners complained that complying with Fields' order in the meantime required them to slice and dice so-called "communities of interest," including the Tucson foothills.

"There was nothing superior about the method used to produce this map," said commissioner James Huntwork, a Republican attorney from Phoenix .

Many goals set by the voter-approved redistricting law conflict with each other, said chairman Steve Lynn, an independent and a utility executive from Tucson . "It is difficult to be fair to all in this process," Lynn said.

Lynn added that it's not clear what map will be used in the fall elections. Because of a federal law intended to protect minorities' voting rights, Arizona requires permission from either the U.S. Department of Justice or federal judges to change election laws and procedures.

Of the eight competitive districts, four are located in the Phoenix area, two in Tucson , one in five eastern Arizona counties and one in parts of Coconino and Mohave counties.

The commission's criteria for competitiveness is a seven-point spread -- plus or minus 3.5 percentage points -- in ratings derived mainly from voter registration and previous legislative votes.

The map, a revised version of one proposed Feb. 23, leaves the state with 13 Republican-leaning districts, nine Democratic-leaning districts and eight competitive districts. Of the eight competitive districts, Democrats and Republicans are slightly ahead in four each.

Hispanic Democrats had sued the commission to demand additional competitive districts.

A top Democratic Party official said the changes could put control of the Legislature within reach of both major parties and potentially end Republicans' decades-long grip.

"We see at least eight districts coming into play," said Executive Director Paul Hegarty. "There's definitely a lot of tough battles for us."

Republicans criticized the commission's efforts to create additional competitive districts as gerrymandering.

"You are getting a lot of tentacles into the city of Tucson ," said Barbara Hein, Republican Party district leader from Pima County . "To divide up the city ... sets up a lot of animosity."

After hours of discussion, the commission rejected numerous alternatives in the Tucson area and instead stuck with its proposed map.

The vote to proceed with the proposed map for the Tucson area was 3-2, with Lynn siding with the panel's two Democratic members. The two Republicans were on the other side.

"I'm not going to be happy with any of these maps -- none of them," Lynn said of the Tucson alternatives and the map ultimately adopted.

The commission did change its proposed map in southwestern Phoenix after African-American community leaders complained that one district's boundary would put the Legislature's only black lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Leah Landrum Taylor of Phoenix , in a new district.

The black leaders said that would disenfranchise their community. "Please do not deny us our voice," said the Rev. Oscar Tillman.

Lynn noted that the commission is barred by law from considering where incumbents or candidates live, but he said he regarded the change being made as motivated by concern for minorities' voting rights.

The commission also approved new boundaries for districts in Mesa and Gilbert, a step urged by Gilbert's mayor and others.