The chairman of the Independent Redistricting Commission, which will redraw Arizona's congressional maps after the 2020 Census, is supposed to be a nonpartisan independent.Β 

 Arizona Daily Star / file

PHOENIX β€” Democratic leaders are going to court, accusing a nominating panel of trying to pass off partisan Republicans for what is supposed to be a nonpartisan slot on the Independent Redistricting Commission.

They say they need a quick answer because House Speaker Rusty Bowers has started the appointment clock running with his decision this week to name Tucson developer David Mehl as his pick for the IRC.

House Minority Leader Charlene Fernandez and David Bradley, her Senate counterpart, contend two of the five nominees who could wind up chairing the commission are really Republicans.

That violates the constitutional requirement for how the panel has to be made up, they contend.

The dispute is more than academic. The makeup of the commission will determine which party gets a political edge in legislative and congressional elections for the coming decade.

Prior to 2000, the lines for districts were drawn by the Arizona Legislature. But that often resulted in more districts favorable to the party already in power.

That year, voters created the Independent Redistricting Commission of five members, four chosen by the legislative leaders of the two major parties, and those four selecting a fifth, the person who is supposed to be the political independent.

In all cases, they have to choose from a list of those nominated by the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments: 10 from each political party and five not registered with either of the two major parties.

The Democrats say two of the five who are supposed to be independents are really not.

One complaint involves Thomas Loquvam.

Constitutional rules preclude anyone who as been β€œa registered paid lobbyist” within the past three years from serving on the redistricting commission, said Jim Barton, attorney for the Democratic leaders.

Loquvam said on his application that he is not a paid lobbyist because he is not β€œcompensated for the primary purpose of lobbying on behalf of a principal.” But Barton pointed out he actually is listed on the Arizona Corporation Commission website as a lobbyist for utility company EPCOR.

There was no immediate response from Loquvam.

The complaint against Robert Wilson is a bit more complex.

About 30 volunteers took part in the pickup organized by Caterpillar Inc. in partnership with Tucson Clean and Beautiful and the Sonoran Institute. In addition, several employees worked with the Sonoran Institute on riverbed litter quantification studies. These simple surveys identify and categorize trash found with in 10 meter by 10 meter square areas with the goal of learning ways to control pollution at its source and coming up with strategies to better capture trash once it has reached the riverbed. Here, Luke Cole with the Sonoran Institute explains more about the surveys. (Josh Galemore/Arizona Daily Star)

Barton acknowledges that Wilson has been a registered independent since 2005. But he told the court that β€œon information and belief,” Wilson voted Republican in 2010, 2014 and 2018.

β€œI’m curious to know how anyone knows how I voted,” Wilson responded to Capitol Media Services. β€œAnd I have a call in to the county recorder’s office to find out what information is and is not public relative to that.”

He acknowledged he contributed $500 in 2010 to the presidential bid of Republican John McCain, but said it was because the senator was β€œa fellow Navy veteran.”

Then there’s what was described by Barton as an August political rally for President Trump in the parking lot of Timberline Firearms in Flagstaff, which Wilson owns.

β€œIt was not a rally,” Wilson said.

He told Capitol Media Services he was contacted by a local Republican who asked if they could use the lot for a meeting with Republican candidates.

β€œAs a small-business owner who’s faced lots of challenges in the past few months, the thought of having a couple of hundred people in my parking lot, and to educate people, I agreed to that,” Wilson said. β€œAt no time did I endorse anyone.”

Barton wants a judge to declare that the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments violated the Arizona Constitution by nominating the two and require the panel to submit two new names of people who do meet the criteria.

A spokesman for Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, who heads the appellate court commission, said he could not comment β€œbecause these questions and issues could come before the court.”

β€œThe arguing sides will make their case and the courts will consider the arguments in reaching a decision,” said the spokesman, Aaron Nash.

The reason Barton wants quick action on the lawsuit has to do with another provision of the Arizona Constitution. It says the first appointment goes to Bowers as the House speaker, followed by a pick by Fernandez as minority leader, one by Senate President Karen Fann, and then one by Bradley as the top Senate Democrat.

But it also says that once a pick is made, the next must come within seven days. And while Barton figures that the process does not have to start legally until the end of January, he said Bowers, in tapping Mehl on Thursday, now forces Fernandez to act by this coming Thursday or forfeit her choice, something he said should not happen while the legality of the nominations of Loquvam and Wilson is being litigated.

So Barton is asking Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Janice Crawford to legally bar future appointments β€” and save Fernandez from having to make a pick at this point β€” until the litigation is resolved.

The makeup of the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments itself has been the subject of questions of whether it has been skewed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.

Until this year, none of the members of the panel, who are appointed by the governor, were Democrats.

In fact, questions were raised about the two β€œindependent” nominees Ducey tapped last year, as one had previously been a Republican precinct committeewoman who had donated to GOP candidates, and the other is married to the daughter of state Rep. Steve Pierce, R-Prescott, and lobbied for Ducey’s Arizona Commerce Authority.

Only last July did the governor pick three Democrats for vacancies on the 16-member commission.

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