By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
The House Ethics Committee dismissed a complaint against Rep. Anthony Kern, concluding that his stint as a volunteer deputy with the Tombstone Marshal’s Office didn’t violate a provision of the Arizona Constitution barring legislators from employment with other government entities because he was unpaid.
Rep. T.J. Shope, who chairs the committee, wrote in his dismissal letter on Wednesday that no allegations in the complaint support a claim that Kern violated House rules.
Shope based his dismissal on the findings of Legislative Council, a nonpartisan division of legislative attorneys, whose opinion he sought. Legislative Council staff and attorneys told Shope that, because Kern was unpaid, he didn’t run afoul of the constitution’s prohibition on lawmakers holding other offices or being “otherwise employed” by the state, counties or cities.
