Arizona redistricting commission picks mapping consultants

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by Paul Davenport - Jun. 29, 2011 08:10 PM
Associated Press

Arizona's redistricting commission again split along party lines on a key staff choice, selecting a Washington-based firm with perceived Democratic leanings as its mapping consultants on Wednesday.

The commission voted 3-2 to have its executive director negotiate a contract with Strategic Telemetry Inc. to advise the commission in drawing new congressional and legislative districts for use in elections in the coming decade.

The commission's independent chairwoman and its two Democratic members voted to direct the panel's executive director to negotiate a contract with Strategic Telemetry. The two Republicans voted no.

The split was the same when the commission previously chose two law firms to serve as its attorneys.

A principal of Strategic Telemetry, Ken Strasma, did 2008 work for President Barack Obama's campaign, and one of the two Republican commissioners said the firm's expertise appeared solid but that its Democratic leanings could put public confidence in the redistricting process at risk.

"Those concerns are fairly patent in my book," said Commissioner Scott Freeman. "I hope that our vote here today does not serve as a further distraction going forward."

Commissioner Chairwoman Colleen Mathis, an independent, said none of the applicant firms were free from partisan connections because that's typical for work in the political and elections arenas.

While Strasma has done most of his work for Democrats, he has proven expertise and commissioners will strive to tap that expertise but not defer to it, she said. "This is not a shy group."

With highly skilled consultants and a transparent process, "any dissatisfaction can at least be minimized," she added.

The vote on choosing a consulting firm followed nearly three-hour closed-door executive session.

The other finalists were TerraSystems Southwest Inc. of Tucson, Phoenix-based Research Advisory Services and National Demographics Corp. of Glendale, Calif.

NDC served as consultants to the previous Arizona commission that drew maps a decade ago, and the two Republican commissioner members wanted it chosen again.

At the beginning of the meeting, former commission Chairman Steve Lynn defended NDC from another criticism voiced Friday by a former member, Andi Minkoff.

Minkoff had said NDC's consultants dampened consideration of creating competitive districts early in the previous commission's work a decade ago and then later said the process was too far along to substantially change proposed maps to make more districts competitive for both major parties.

Lynn said the criticism was unfounded because the former commission made its decisions, not the consultants.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... tants.html