House Minority Leader Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix (District 14), following the release of an investigative report, reiterated his demand for Rep. Daniel Patterson (District 29) to resign. Campbell added that if he does not resign, members will seek to expel him.
“I have been calling on Rep. Patterson to resign since this all began,” Campbell said. “The behavior highlighted in the investigative report is both reprehensible and intolerable. If he does not resign now, we need to vote to remove him immediately.”
The investigative report, ordered by the House Ethics Committee following a complaint filed against Patterson, outlines an “extraordinary and very predictable pattern of disorderly, indecorous, and deceptive behavior.”
The report also indicates that the potential that Patterson could “injure others, particularly staff, puts the House and the State in the crosshairs for civil liability for subsequent injury.” The investigators recommended that Patterson be expelled from the Arizona House of Representatives.
“We must take immediate and decisive action,” Campbell said. “Removing him from this body is the only appropriate recourse.”
Patterson re-registered as an independent this morning. He claims that it has nothing to do with the ethics investigation. “The result will be an enhanced ability for him to represent voters in LD29 by not being tied to a political party. “I don’t need a political party to tell me how to vote,” said Patterson according to the Yellow Sheet.
Pima County Chair Jeff Rogers has supported Patterson. He has advised fellow democrats to avoid addressing the issue.