On Wednesday, Arizona State Representative Liz Harris was expelled from the Legislature after being found to have damaged the integrity of the institution by the Ethics Committee.
Republicans called it a sad but necessary action in light of the fact that Harris was collaborating with conspiracy theorists who accused innocent public officials of being involved in a money laundering scheme with Mexican drug cartels and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Harris narrowly won her seat in the 2022 General Election in Legislative District 13. She just edged out Julie Willoughby for the seat.
Harris had aligned herself, not with conservatives while in office, but with a group of people described by conservatives as “chaos agents” as well as members of the fringe group known as the “Patriot Party.”
The resolution to expel Harris outlined her actions, and her attempts to avoid the consequences of those actions by lying to the Ethics Committee:
Whereas, on February 23, 2023, at the request and organization of Representative Liz Harris, the House and Senate Special Joint Elections Committee held a Special Joint Hearing (“Joint Hearing”) relating to election integrity, which consisted of presentations by various individuals. At this Joint Hearing, Jacqueline Breger, a member of the public, purported to present “findings” of an investigation that alleged the existence of numerous schemes within Arizona, including money laundering, drug trafficking and sales, public corruption, bribing of public officials and election fraud; and
Whereas, Ms. Breger presented information and distributed materials at the Joint Hearing that she claimed showed this alleged criminal activity to have been overseen by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and committed by various private citizens, government employees, and appointed and elected officials, including current Arizona legislators; and
Whereas, on March 6, 2023, Representative Stephanie Stahl Hamilton filed a complaint against Representative Liz Harris in connection with the Joint Hearing and in particular Ms. Breger’s presentation. The complaint alleged that Representative Harris personally invited Ms. Breger to present at the Joint Hearing and, in so doing, not only brought “disrepute and embarrassment to the House of Representatives” but also “allowed the impugning of other members” in violation of House Rule 1. The complaint requested that the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics (“Ethics Committee”) investigate Representative Harris’s actions; and
Whereas, the Ethics Committee formally convened on March 23, 2023, and on March 30, 2023, the Ethics Committee held an evidentiary hearing at which various relevant exhibits and Representative Harris’s testimony were considered; and
Whereas, on April 11, 2023, the Ethics Committee issued its report, which unanimously concluded that Representative Harris committed disorderly behavior, thereby violating Rule 1 of the Rules of the Arizona House of Representatives and damaging the institutional integrity of the House; and
Whereas, specifically, the Ethics Committee found that Ms. Breger made criminal allegations during the Joint Hearing, which was an inappropriate venue for such serious claims; and
Whereas, the Ethics Committee also found that Representative Harris knew or was aware that Ms. Breger would present these criminal allegations at the Joint Hearing; and
Whereas, the Ethics Committee also found that Representative Harris failed to comply with internal House of Representatives deadlines requiring disclosure of presentation materials in advance of the Joint Hearing; and
Whereas, the Ethics Committee also found that Representative Harris was not surprised or upset by the information revealed in Ms. Breger’s presentation; and
Whereas, the Ethics Committee found that, as the primary organizer of the Joint Hearing and the Acting Vice Chair during Ms. Breger’s presentation, 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; and
Whereas, the members of the Ethics Committee unanimously found the fact-intensive evidence to show that Representative Harris engaged in disorderly behavior in violation of House Rule 1, thereby eroding the public trust in the legislative process, and that it was appropriate for the House of Representatives as a whole to determine what, if any, disciplinary measures should be taken; and
Whereas, on April 12, 2023, the members of the full House of Representatives adopted the Report of the Ethics Committee as the findings of the House of Representatives.
Therefore Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona:
1. That the Members of the House of Representatives find that Representative Liz Harris violated House of Representatives Rule 1 and engaged in disorderly behavior.
2. That Representative Liz Harris’s conduct relating to the February 23, 2023 Joint Hearing of the House and Senate Special Joint Elections Committee undermined the public’s confidence in this institution and violated the order and decorum necessary to complete the people’s work in the State of Arizona.
3. That in the exercise of the power granted to the House of Representatives by Article IV, part 2, section 11, Constitution of Arizona, the House of Representatives, with the concurrence of two-thirds of its members, hereby condemns the actions of Representative Liz Harris and expels her from the Arizona House of Representatives.
4. That the seat of the member of the House of Representatives, legislative district 13, occupied by Liz Harris, is now vacant.
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