David Mehl/Cottonwood Properties photo
The move kicks off the selection process far earlier than in the past
By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
House Speaker Rusty Bowers has selected the first member of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, choosing David Mehl, a southern Arizona developer, as the first of two Republican commissioners.
Bowers’s decision comes far earlier than usual and starts the clock for the remaining legislative leaders, who will choose the next three redistricting commissioners. House Minority Leader Charlene Fernandez, D-Yuma, has seven days to make the next pick to the AIRC, which will draw the congressional and legislative districts that Arizona will use for the next decade.
The speaker, a Mesa Republican, said he met over the past week with each of the 10 GOP finalists, calling the group an “impressive slate of individuals.”
“David will bring remarkable experience and leadership to the commission, as well as a profound appreciation for the monumental importance of this duty. I have immense confidence that he will apply the skill and standards that have been a hallmark of his professional success so that he will fulfill this crucial constitutional responsibility to achieve a fair result that reflects our great state,” Bowers said in a press statement.
