The desk used by Arizona Republican Representative Liz Harris at the state Capitol in Phoenix was empty after she was expelled from the Legislature on Wednesday.
Jonathan J. Cooper/AP
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Jonathan J. Cooper/AP
The desk used by Arizona Republican Representative Liz Harris at the state Capitol in Phoenix was empty after she was expelled from the Legislature on Wednesday.
Jonathan J. Cooper/AP
PHOENIX — An Arizona Republican lawmaker was expelled from the state House of Representatives for inviting a witness to present false allegations about lawmakers and other state officials — and then, according to an ethics committee report, lied about her involvement in outrageous testimony.
A bipartisan, two-thirds majority of the GOP-led House of Representatives voted Wednesday to fire Liz Harris, a freshman lawmaker from Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix.
The notable move to oust Harris, who has made baseless claims about the 2020 and 2022 elections, comes as members of the state’s Republican Party in recent years have made Arizona a wall a hive of electoral denialism.
Voting takes place one day later release of the report of the House Ethics Committeeconcluded that Harris knew, or at least knew, that a woman she arranged to testify at the Capitol would claim, without evidence, that a variety of elected officials and judges, including including Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, accept bribes from the Sinaloa drug cartel and commit other crimessuch as money laundering.
The woman, Gilbert, Ariz., insurance agent Jacqueline Breger, also claimed during a February hearing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “controls” the government and plays a role in money laundering schemes.
Breger does not provide evidence to support outlandish claims. But a video of her testimony before election commissions exploded on the internet in the days following the hearing. At one point, #CartelKatie was trending on Twitter.
There is no problem when there is no substance to the claims. The fact that they were presented to Republican lawmakers in their official capacity at the state Capitol – Democrats on the committee boycotted the hearing – gave the accusations enough weight. reliability to propagate.
According to House Speaker Ben Toma, a Republican and one of the lawmakers falsely accused of criminal activity, that’s problematic enough to deserve an ethics investigation and deportation. .
Toma, one of 46 lawmakers, said: “Each member can decide for himself whether or not Representative Harris will act, in fact, not only caused this in the first place, but contradicted himself. several times during the ethics hearing.” who voted to deport Harris.
Overall, the ethics panel concluded that Harris’ actions violated House rules and compromised the integrity of the agency.
“Harris engaged in disorderly conduct that violated House Rule 1, thereby eroding public confidence in the legislative process,” the resolution called for her expulsion.
The ethics report also found that Harris lied to the panel when she claimed she had no idea Breger would make such extravagant accusations.
“The only thing we have here is our word and our integrity,” Toma said. “And when that is clearly crossed, when you can no longer trust someone’s word or integrity, they can no longer be an effective legislator.”
Harris speak washington articles before the vote, “I don’t lie and God knows the truth. The truth will come out.” Harris did not speak on her behalf when the House voted to expel her. She quietly left the House of Commons after the roll call vote. It was only after a pause in the House of Commons that a handful of her supporters in the gallery spoke up, shouting “shame on you, shame, shame, shame.”
This is the second time in six years that the House of Representatives has voted to remove one of its members. In 2018, room voted to deport then-Representative. Don Shooter, who was found to have sexually harassed his colleagues and lobbyists at the state Capitol.
The Arizona deportation follows the deportation – for different reasons – of two Black lawmakers in Tennessee. Democrats Justin J. Pearson and Justin Jones were kicked out by the Republican majority after the pair – along with Representative Gloria Johnson, who is white – led a protest from the House of Representatives calling for gun law reform.
Pearson and Jones are now reappointed to their seats by local officials.
