According to a report, a Republican member of the Arizona House of Representatives was expelled by the GOP majority this week.
Rep. Liz Harris, who was only a few months into her first tenure, was voted out of office on Wednesday by a vote of 46-13, according to KNXV-TV in Phoenix.
According to NBC News, the action followed the expulsion of two Tennessee Democrats from their state’s legislature, which garnered significant sympathetic coverage from the national establishment media and calls for an investigation from Senate Democrats.
Per the resolution to oust Harris, who represented Legislative District 13, 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 Jacqueline Breger’s testimony at an Arizona elections hearing on February 23, to which Harris invited her.
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.”
The resolution said that the testimony cited the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” as well as “various private citizens, government employees, and appointed and elected officials, including current Arizona legislators.”
The resolution stated that the House hearing was not the proper venue for such allegations.
“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 says, per the Western Journal.
The Arizona Republic reports that Democratic Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton was one of the “current Arizona legislators” mentioned by Breger during the February 23 hearing on Arizona’s elections. According to the report, Hamilton lodged a complaint with the House Ethics Committee alleging that Harris had advance knowledge of Breger’s testimony.
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
On her way out of the Capitol, Harris was defiant when she spoke with reporters. “I stand for honesty and integrity. The report is a lie,” she said.
“If you don’t toe the line, this is what happens,” she said as she was carrying boxes of her belongings to her vehicle.
State Representative Alexander Kolodin declared on Twitter that the expulsion was in error.
“A sad day in the history of the Arizona House of Representatives. I fear we have set a dangerous precedent,” he wrote.
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
A report from the House Ethics Committee alleged that Harris was aware of Breger’s testimony prior to 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.
According to the report, Harris denied knowing what Breger would say during her testimony.
Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor in 2022 and arguably the most prominent Republican in Arizona politics, sided with Harris on this issue.
Lake, who is contesting the outcome of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election in court, argued on Twitter that it is up to the voters who elected Harris, not her House colleagues, to decide her fate. She described those who opposed Harris’ expulsion as “good guys.”
The Arizona house of representatives just kicked out a duly elected member.
LD 13 voted for Ms. Harris to represent them in the legislature.
They should have the final say in her future.
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) April 12, 2023
The names in RED are the good guys.
The others… 🤔 https://t.co/VefFKXl200
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) April 13, 2023
House Democratic Leader Andrés Cano, who supported the expulsion, issued a statement to clarify his vote.
More on this story via Conservative Brief:
“This is a sad day for our institution. But it is a necessary day. There has been real damage done to the lives and reputations of people who did not deserve it. Most importantly, the integrity of this House has been jeopardized,” he said. CONTINUE READING…
