Democratic Leadership dismisses Committee, then obsesses with every move. Democrats in the House and Senate have dismissed the Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting as a “divisive partisan game”, but as Republican Committee members perform their Constitutional duty, the Democrats are the ones playing games.

The Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting was formed under the Legislature’s comment authority in the Arizona Constitution. It is a bipartisan committee comprised of four Republicans and two Democrats. Just minutes before its first hearing on October 21, Democratic leadership announced it wouldn’t take part in the Committee. That “boycott” has taken a strange turn.

“Their chairs are empty, but they’re sure taking part,” says Senator Steve Pierce, a Republican from Prescott. “They are launching attacks on those testifying, they are going on Twitter to make accusations. They’re the partisan ones in this.”

In the six days of hearings, the Committee has listened to dozens of citizens who have been let down by the Independent Redistricting Commission. The Joint Committee will collect the information from these citizens and present a report to the IRC, as detailed in the Arizona Constitution.