The Arizona House of Representatives has expelled Republican Liz Harris.
According to KNXV-TV in Phoenix, Harris was voted out of office by the GOP-controlled state House of Representatives by a vote of 46-13 on Wednesday. Harris had only been in office for a few months.
According to NBC News, the action occurred days after two Tennessee Democrats were expelled from that state’s legislature, a move that garnered sympathetic coverage from the national establishment media and calls for an investigation from Democrats in the U.S. Senate.
The resolution to expel Harris, who represented Legislative District 13, stated that she “brought ‘disrepute and embarrassment to the House of Representatives'” and “also ‘allowed the impugning of other members’ in violation of House Rule 1.”
The resolution centered on the testimony of Jacqueline Breger, a Harris-invited witness at a hearing on Arizona’s elections on February 23.
The resolution states that Breger “claimed to present the ‘findings’ of an investigation alleging the existence of multiple schemes in Arizona, including money laundering, drug trafficking and sales, public corruption, bribery of public officials, and election fraud.”
According to the resolution, the testimony cited the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” as well as “various private citizens, government employees, appointed and elected officials, including current Arizona legislators.”
The resolution states that the House hearing was not an appropriate venue for such accusations.
“Representative Harris violated the inherent obligation to protect the integrity of the House of Representatives and used her elected position to provide Ms. Breger with a legislative platform as a substitute for a criminal court,” the resolution states.
According to The Arizona Republic, one of the “current Arizona legislators” Breger mentioned is Democratic Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, who lodged a complaint with the House Ethics Committee accusing Harris of knowing in advance what Breger was going to claim.
Rep. Liz Harris has officially been expelled from the AZ House of Reps for violating ethics rules.
I spoke with her as she was walking out of the House 👇🏼 @azfamily https://t.co/skYrGLDjSF pic.twitter.com/Sh6ABzj4xD— Sarah Robinson (@sarahrobinsontv) April 12, 2023
Harris adopted a combative stance following the vote.
“I stand for honesty and integrity. The report is a lie,” she told reporters as she carried items out of her office.
“If you don’t toe the line, this is what happens,” she said.
Republican state Rep. Alexander Kolodin said the expulsion was a mistake.
“A sad day in the history of the Arizona House of Representatives. I fear we have set a dangerous precedent,” he wrote in a Twitter post.
A sad day in the history of the Arizona House of Representatives. I fear we have set a dangerous precedent. pic.twitter.com/7CEPPR98jz
— Alexander Kolodin (@realAlexKolodin) April 13, 2023
According to a report from the House Ethics Committee, its members believed Harris was aware of Breger’s testimony at the hearing.
“Representative Harris’s inconsistent testimony leads the Committee to believe that she had a more detailed understanding of Breger’s presentation than she led the Joint Elections Committee to believe, and that Representative Harris had hoped to avoid providing the presentation to House leadership before the hearing,” the report stated, according to the Arizona Mirror, an online nonprofit news organization.
According to the report, hearing organizer Harris refuted knowing what Breger would say.
On social media, one of Arizona’s most prominent politicians took Harris’ side.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
Kari Lake, the 2022 Republican candidate for governor who is still fighting in court over the election’s outcome, wrote on Twitter that it’s the voters who elected Harris — not Harris’ colleagues in the House — who should determine her future. She called the members who voted against Harris’ expulsion the “good guys.” CONTINUE READING…
