Essentially they met in executive session to discuss litigation and then in open session they moved:
1. To appeal the Superior Court decision to the Supreme Court
2. Authorize the attorney to submit the Interim plan for adoption.
This is quick and dirty. Here are my rough notes from today's board meeting. Recognize they are just a rough image of what was said.
Redistricting Board
11:41 Roll call - after problems getting Marie Greene connected from
Canada. In Anchorage only Board member is John Torgerson. The others
are all here via teleconference.
Staff - Michael White, Taylor Bickford, and
White: Submitted Amended Proclamation. Last Friday it disagreed with
how we interpreted the Hickel Process. Didn’t say we should have done
the whole state over, but did say we should have reviewed each
district. Also problem with District 32. Bottom line: We didn’t
follow the Hickel process at the first level. Have to make findings on
each and every district. Then plan goes back to him and he approves the
constitutional issues and then it comes back and we go from there.
We didn’t follow first process of Hickel Process.
Decision today is to appeal or comply. That’s what we’ll decided in executive session today.
Torgerson: Questions of Mr. White.
Hearing none, we’ll go to item 5. Motion to go into Executive Session to discuss strategy to go to the supreme court.
Roll Call: 5-0 yea
11:46 - disconnect from teleconference and clear the room and we should be back on in a few minutes.
12:26pm Board room now opening and setting up the bridge for the teleconference.
12:28 back in session.
Motions out there?
PeggyAnn McConnochie: Authorize counsel to appeal trial court’s ruling to the supreme court.
Holm: Second.
No discussion. Vote 5-0 in favor.
PeggyAnn McConnochie: Move to authorize counsel to petition the court to institute the interim plan.
Holm: Second
Discussion: None vote 5-0 yea
PAM: Motion to adjourn:
12:31 adjourned.
[UPDATE 3:30pm - Here are links to the Interim Plan - statewide and closer look at Fairbanks in the Interim Plan. These are from a redistricting board post dated April 5, 2012.]
On first reading, this would appear to be very bad news. Does the committee's decision mean that all districts will be configured in the upcoming elections according to the first plan (submitted) that was found to be (Alaska) unconstitutional??
ReplyDeleteIf so, this is bad ... very bad news.
Anon, Let me clarify the interim plan. It is basically the original Proclamation plan with changes to Districts 1 and 2 so they are constitutional. That included changing parts of nearby districts too. Here's my April 6 post that talks about the Interim Plan" and has some maps comparing plans. We didn't have detailed Interim Plan maps.
ReplyDeleteI'll add links to the Interim Statewide Plan and the Interim Fairbanks Map in this post.
Using an interim plan does mean the some (or many) districts used for voting in 2012 will then be changed again and at least some of the legislators will have new district lines.
They did fix the constitutional problems with Districts 1 and 2 and put the two City of Fairbanks House seats into one Senate District. But the Aleutians, as I understand it, are still split in the interim plan.