Arizona House expels GOP lawmaker: ‘This comes down to the integrity … of this institution’

PHOENIX — The Arizona House of Representatives on Wednesday expelled a Republican lawmaker who organized a presentation making unsubstantiated accusations that a variety of politicians, judges and public officers of each events took bribes from a Mexican drug cartel.

Rep. Liz Harris, a distinguished supporter of discredited election conspiracies, was kicked out of the Legislature in a bipartisan vote after the presentation by an Arizona insurance coverage agent. The lawmaker’s ouster got here a day after the House Ethics Committee decided Harris had engaged in “disorderly behavior” in violation of the chamber’s guidelines.

The committee’s report mentioned Harris knew the individual she invited to a legislative listening to in February would accuse her colleagues of prison exercise, that she took steps to cover it from House leaders forward of time after which misled the committee investigating her actions.

“This comes down to the integrity, in my opinion, of this institution and us as leaders,” mentioned Rep. David Livingston, a Republican who voted to expel Harris. “This is not personal.”

Harris, who was sworn into her first time period in January, didn’t converse forward of the expulsion vote. Immediately afterward, she carried packing containers to her automotive, positioned them in her trunk with the assistance of a handful of supporters and left. She known as the ethics report “a lie.”

“God knows the truth,” Harris mentioned, in keeping with video recorded by a reporter for KPNX-TV. “This was an example of how you need to toe the line. If you don’t toe the line, this is what happens.”

The vote towards Harris comes lower than per week after Tennessee Republicans voted to expel two black Democrats, a call that made that state a brand new entrance within the battle for the way forward for American democracy. But the Arizona vote didn’t carry the identical partisan and racial overtones, with widespread and bipartisan condemnation for Harris’s actions.

Harris organized a daylong listening to of the House and Senate elections committees in February. At the top, a Scottsdale insurance coverage agent, Jacqueline Breger, gave a 40-minute presentation alleging with out dependable proof that two girls engaged on behalf of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel used fraudulent mortgage paperwork to launder cash to a spread of officers.

Arizona Republican lawmakers have given extensive leeway for folks claiming to be election consultants to share unsubstantiated or disproven claims in hearings on the Capitol. But GOP legislative leaders raced to distance themselves from Breger’s claims and pin blame on Harris.

Before she was elected to the Legislature, Harris led a door-to-door canvassing effort trying to find proof of fraud following the 2020 presidential election. Her effort drew scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division, which warned about potential voter intimidation.

There was little public dialogue earlier than the expulsion vote. Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin mentioned Harris “made an error in judgement,” however expelling her would ship the fallacious message.

“It will be perceived as setting the precedent that if you rock the boat too much, you will be expelled,” mentioned Kolodin, who voted towards expulsion.