PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona taxpayers paid more than $1.5 million on the legal fight over a voter-approved system for redrawing congressional district lines, newly released records show.
Documents obtained by The Arizona Republic (https://bit.ly/1dQQUQV) indicate taxpayers covered attorneys’ fees for both sides in the case that was decided by the Supreme Court last month.
The nation’s highest court upheld 5-4 the constitutionality of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission’s ability to draw congressional district maps. Republicans complained in a lawsuit filed in 2012 that the Constitution exclusively gives elected state lawmakers the power to map boundaries.
Senate President Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, said the Legislature’s costs, which amounted to at least $420,000, was money well spent because the case needed to be settled.
Voters in 2000 approved an initiative to give the independent commission the power to draw the districts.
Dennis Burke, who helped draft the initiative, disagreed. Arizona taxpayers could have saved a lot more money had the Legislature respected what the voters approved.
“Inasmuch as the Legislature was essentially suing the people of Arizona, it was ludicrous (to sue) in the first place,” Burke said.
At the same time, Burke said the commission’s expenses of more than $570,000 were justified.
“If somebody’s threatening to burn down your house, there are costs to defend that,” Burke said.
Most of the expenses were attorneys’ fees. However, attorneys’ fees incurred by the Legislature don’t show the value of the work done by legislative in-house lawyers when the case started in 2012.
The Legislature also spent $32,500 on a consultant to draw a new congressional map in case Republicans prevailed, according to the records.
Other expenses included travel and lodging for delegations on both sides for a hearing last March in Washington, D.C. A six-member Arizona House delegation traveled at a cost of more than $11,000. The commission sent representatives as well at a cost of roughly $6,500. Others who traveled on the state’s dime include the state Elections Director Eric Spencer and two representatives for Gov. Doug Ducey.
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Information from: The Arizona Republic, https://www.azcentral.com
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