Girdwood residents sue Alaska Redistricting Board over maps putting them with Eagle River – The Midnight Sun

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On the eve of the Alaska Redistricting Board’s date again in court docket over accusations that its conservative majority basically repeated the identical gerrymander to spice up Republican illustration within the state Senate that invalidated the unique plan, a brand new group of plaintiffs has come to the desk.

Three Girdwood residents—Louis Theiss, Ken Waugh and Jennifer Wingard—at the moment filed a brand new lawsuit difficult the Alaska Redistricting Board’s determination to create a Senate district from the state Home district that accommodates Girdwood, South Anchorage and Whittier (9-E) and one of many deeply conservative Eagle River’s two state Home seats that was instantly concerned within the final spherical of litigation (now 10-E).

“They’re searching for to intervene within the swimsuit to say a constitutional problem to the brand new Anchorage Senate pairings,” defined the Girdwood Plaintiffs’ lawyer Eva Gardner in an electronic mail with me, “which put Girdwood in a district with Eagle River—a pairing that is mindless and can deprive Girdwood, and others inside its district, of a significant vote.”

The Alaska Supreme Courtroom and Superior Courtroom Decide Thomas Matthews struck down the Alaska Redistricting Board’s determination to create a Senate district from home districts in East Anchorage and Eagle River earlier this yr, discovering it constituted a political gerrymander geared toward boosting the conservative Eagle River’s illustration on the expense of the swingier East Anchorage district. Despatched again to the drafting board, the Alaska Redistricting Board’s conservatives opted to create the brand new Eagle River/South Anchorage state Senate seat fairly than a unified Eagle River senate seat. Although supporters cited a number of superficial connections between Eagle River and South Anchorage, the board zeroed in on the obvious navy connection between the opposite Eagle River Home district (24-L) with the JBER/Downtown district (23-L) as justification for sticking with the cut up Eagle River.

Critics, together with impartial board members Nicole Borromeo and Melanie Bahnke, argued the brand new plan repeated the identical ploy of placing conservative Eagle River voters on the wheel of two Senate districts on the expense of others. They identified that the navy is not an outlined neighborhood of curiosity whereas the court docket rulings had clearly discovered that Eagle River was its personal neighborhood of curiosity.

“I consider that the court docket despatched this again to us to appropriate it,” Bahnke mentioned through the hearings, “to not discover a new method to proceed to attempt to give Eagle River extra illustration.”

The East Anchorage plaintiffs are difficult the brand new maps, but it surely’s clear that they’re working out of steam and cash to proceed this lawsuit. In one of many filings main as much as tomorrow’s oral arguments—that are scheduled for 3 p.m. and can be streamed right here—the group wrote it doesn’t plan on pursuing the case for much longer: “East Anchorage plaintiffs haven’t, nor do they intend to, file a brand new problem or set off a renewed Civil Rule 90.8 utility course of, nor do East Anchorage plaintiffs have the monetary capacity to fund such an effort.”

The entry of residents from Girdwood is a giant deal not simply because it’s selecting up the torch from East Anchorage within the occasion East Anchorage’s street ends tomorrow, however as a result of the Alaska Redistricting Board’s lawyer Matt Singer’s most important argument in opposition to the East Anchorage plaintiffs’ attraction is that they shouldn’t be allowed to sue over a pairing that doesn’t instantly contain them. The Girdwood Plaintiffs are, after all, within the proposed district and their submitting argues they’ll be irreparably harmed if this yr’s elections are held below the present maps.

“The Girdwood Plaintiffs can be irreparably harmed if the 2022 proclamation stays in place,” the movement, which might enable them to intervene within the attraction raised by East Anchorage, explains. “They reside in Home District 9 and are entitled to truthful and efficient illustration within the Alaska Senate for the following decade, together with this yr’s legislative elections.”

The group’s arguments largely mirror these made in profitable problem from the East Anchorage plaintiffs: That the board is working to spice up Eagle River’s conservatives on the expense of others. As an alternative of it being the swingy South Muldoon district it’s now the leans-conservative South Anchorage district (which got here near electing an impartial within the 2020 elections).

Key filings: Movement to intervene, grievance

What’s subsequent

The trail forward is just not fully clear at this second. The East Anchorage plaintiffs are set to have their oral arguments in entrance of Decide Matthews on Tuesday afternoon, but it surely may go a lot of completely different instructions. Decide Matthews may agree that the board’s actions are a repeat and should be despatched again with one other set of directions (or, as board member Borromeo has requested, simply have the court docket determine it). He may discover the Alaska Redistricting Board’s arguments that East Anchorage has no floor to sue are convincing, which might make for a brief listening to. The Girdwood Plaintiffs are hoping that they’ll intervene with East Anchorage’s case, basically piggybacking into the case with the aim of a sooner decision. In the event that they’re barred from intervening, they’d possible be caught ranging from sq. one on a timeline that wouldn’t assure modifications earlier than the June 1 submitting deadline for candidates.

Delay is the important thing goal for the Alaska Redistricting Board, which not solely means we would get a repeat of the final redistricting course of the place we had one map for ‘12 and one other for ‘14, however as now we have seen with the East Anchorage plaintiffs there’s additionally a sensible restrict on how far and the way lengthy somebody can pursue litigation.

It’s value noting that the Girdwood Plaintiffs’ authorized workforce is just not coming to this chilly. Attorneys Eva Gardner and Mike Schechter had been concerned with the Calista, Company challenges to the redistricting plan. These challenges have already been resolved and they’re presently solely working with the Girdwood Plaintiffs.

I’ll be masking the oral arguments within the East Anchorage tomorrow on Twitter.

Filings