Eight Pima County applicants remain in the running for the politically powerful panel that will oversee mapping of Arizonaβs next congressional and legislative districts.
A total of 138 people applied statewide, including 28 from Pima County, to be on the Independent Redistricting Commission.
After the 2020 Census results are in, the commission will oversee the drawing of districts Arizona will use for the next decade. Those boundaries in turn determine the partisan mix of registered voters in each district at the time they are mapped.
The separate Commission on Appellate Court Appointments (including members named by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey) winnowed the applicants list to 51 so far, including 20 Republicans, 20 Democrats and 11 independents.
The 51 who survived that first cut will now be interviewed by the appellate appointments commission, which will eventually present a final list of 25 nominees β 10 Republicans, 10 Democrats and five independents.
From those, two Republicans and two Democrats will be chosen by party leaders in each state legislative chamber.
Those four new members of the redistricting commission will then choose one of the nominated independents to serve as their chairman.
The independent chairman will also be the potential tie-breaker on the five-member commission β making the list of independents especially important.
Pima County applicants to be interviewed are:
Five Democrats
Martha M. Durkin, a retired attorney for Pima County, Tucson and Tucson Unified School District.
Dale L. Keyes, retired senior program manager at U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution.
Robert P. Kovitz, formerly worked on community action programs for Pima County administration.
Mark. T. Murphy, a water research scientist previously on Environmental Protection Agency Advisory Board Panel.
Teresa D. Wyatt, former director of Childrenβs Clinics for Rehabilitative Services.
Two Republicans
Brian A. Hatheway, retired from U.S. State Department.
David Mehl, president of Cottonwood Properties.
One independent
Gregory M. Teesdale, who has been an executive of technology companies.
The nominating commission
The 16-member Commission on Appellate Court Appointments that will continue to narrow the list, has two Pima County members: Republican Laura Ciscomani and independent Kathryn Townsend.
The overall makeup of that group is eight Republicans, four independents and three Democrats, plus the chief justice of the state Supreme Court as chairman. They are listed at tucne.ws/1ft3 and are due to send their final list of redistricting nominees to legislative leaders by Jan. 8, 2021.
