On Tuesday night, the Executive Committee of the Arizona Republican Party voted unanimously to censure Rep. Rusty Bowers. Bowers “is no longer a Republican in good standing” and the Party is calling on Republicans to replace him at the ballot box in the August primary.
According to a tweet from Republican National Committeeman Tyler Bowyer, Rusty “was censured for approximately 10 terrible bills in direct opposition with the GOP platform.”
The censure stated specifically that Bowers had “lost the confidence of a majority of Republican Party leaders and his colleagues in the legislature in the state of Arizona” and is “unfit to serve the platform of the Republican Party and will of the voters of the Republican Party of Arizona.”
The leaders of Arizona’s Republican Party also blasted Bowers for “co-sponsoring Democrat-led bills and refusing to work with the most conservative legislative body in 10 years during arguably one of the most critical sessions in Arizona history. Additionally, he has consistently demonstrated general disregard for Republican Party Leadership at the precinct, legislative, county, state, and federal levels.”
“It is the responsibility of the State Party to hold elected officials within our Party responsible and accountable,” AZGOP said in their press release. “The average Republican voter may not be aware of the damning effects Speaker Bowers has created in Arizona, and we feel obligated to express our utmost dissatisfaction with his performance this past legislative session.”
“Rusty’s inaction is jeopardizing our Party’s potential success in the November election on which the future of our constitutional republic depends upon at this vital moment in history,” concluded the AZGOP leadership.
One GOP consultant told the Arizona Daily Independent, “It is highly unusual for this to happen, and quite a few people are going to think it is really inappropriate for the Party to weigh in on primaries like this. But the fact that it passed with a unanimous vote from a committee that large tells you just how few friends Rusty Bowers has left in the GOP.”
Censure Resolution:
WHEREAS, the mission of the Republican Party of Arizona is to recruit, train and elect Republicans who support the United States Constitution, the Arizona Constitution, and the Republican Party Platform and to hold those elected accountable to the United States Constitution, the Arizona Constitution, and the Republican Party Platform;
WHEREAS Speaker Rusty Bowers originally allowed and applauded a bill (SCR 1044,) giving tax-payer funded in-state tuition to illegal aliens at our state universities which is a direct violation of the Republican Platform and numerous resolutions passed by the State Committee which oppose policies that promote and reward illegal ‘sanctuary cities’ and Lawlessness;
WHEREAS, Bowers joined Democrats to sponsor a one-billion dollar education spending bill (HB 2039,) without a single committee hearing while simultaneously opposing and killing a bill to permanently reinstate the Pledge of Allegiance in our childrens’ schools, (HB 2597;)
WHEREAS, Bowers was the only Republican opposed to the bill (HB 2294,) establishing that only two genders should be named on all government documents;
WHEREAS, Bowers sponsored one of the most horrific attacks on the Republican Party Platform plank on religious liberty by sponsoring a bill with Democrats (HB 2802,) that makes sexual orientation and gender identity a protected class forcing public schools and businesses to allow men identifying as women in womens restrooms and locker rooms, removing parental rights preventing parents from identifying the help that their own child may need in accordance with their religious beliefs and a prohibition of religious-based resources on subjects of sexual identity and orientation;
WHEREAS, Bowers ensured killing all meaningful election integrity bills (HB 2596, HB2289,) and prevented Republicans from committee debate, floor debate and working on a product of those bills that would have addressed many of the genuine and unresolved concerns following the Senate Audit;
WHEREAS, Bowers sponsored and led the passage of the bill that eliminated precinct elections (HB 2839,) intending to create chaotic and significant workload for Party officials while also opposing any and all discussions regarding the future of the Republican Party following that bill and also opposing working with Party leaders in order to achieve legislative success with one of the most conservative bodies Arizona has had n the past decade;
WHEREAS, Bowers has not been forthright in his interactions between others in legislative leadership, Republican Party leadership, his dealings with Maricopa County bureaucrats, lobbyists, consultants, the liberal media;
WHEREAS, Bowers has lost the confidence of a majority of Republican Party leaders and his colleagues in the legislature in the State of Arizona;
WHEREAS, Bowers has demonstrated he is unfit to serve the platform of the Republican Party and will of the voter of the Republican Party of Arizona;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Arizona hereby formally censures Representative Rusty Bowers and shall immediately cease any and all recognition and support of him as a member of the Republican Party for his inaction on election integrity, his specific actions addressed herein including co-sponsoring Democrat-led bills that have opposed core planks and tenets of the Republican Party Platform, and for his general disregard for precinct, legislative, county and state and national Republican Party leadership.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Arizona calls on the Republican Party in Maricopa County and the newly formed Legislative District 10 to contemplate a similar censure of Speaker Bowers and to encourage all registered Republicans to expel him permanently from office in the impending primary election.