Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
Democratic legislative leaders’ lawsuit to disqualify two of the five finalists for independent chair of the state’s next redistricting commission fell flat after a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled that the disputed applicants didn’t violate the criteria set out in the Arizona Constitution.
Judge Janice Crawford ruled on Friday that Thomas Loquvam, an attorney for the utility company EPCOR, does not violate the constitution’s prohibition on lobbyists serving on the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, and that Flagstaff gun store owner Robert Wilson meets the qualifications to serve as an independent.
Senate Minority Leader David Bradley, D-Tucson, and House Minority Leader Charlene Fernandez, D-Yuma, won’t appeal Crawford’s dismissal of the case, according to their attorney, Jim Barton.
The dismissal of the case and the decision not to appeal paves the way for the selection of the fifth and final member or the IRC, an independent who will chair the commission as it draws the legislative and congressional districts that Arizona will use through 2030. Secretary of State Katie Hobbs must call a meeting of the two Democrats and two Republicans appointed to the commission by legislative leaders, and they will choose a chair by a majority vote.
Hobbs is unlikely to call the meeting until after the Electoral College meets on Dec. 14, spokeswoman Murphy Hebert told the Arizona Mirror.
