9th Circuit hears Shooter’s appeal
Photo by Howard Fischer/Capitol Media Services
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
Attorneys for the state and a former House speaker told a federal court Tuesday that the legislature is free to remove members for any reason at all — including political affiliation and race — as long as they can muster a two-thirds vote.
Steve Tully said there was nothing wrong with the procedures used by J.D. Mesnard, who was speaker in 2018, to investigate then-Rep. Don Shooter and eventually have a vote that resulted in his ouster.
Tully, himself a former lawmaker, did not specifically dispute Shooter’s claim that Mesnard ignored decades of precedent which normally allow an accused lawmaker a formal hearing before the Ethics Committee where evidence can be presented and witnesses can be questioned. Nor did he address Shooter allegations that he was being charged with violating a sexual harassment policy that did not yet exist or that Mesnard removed certain information from an investigative report that was given to his fellow lawmakers.
Instead, he told the three-judge panel that lawmakers were free to vote to eject Shooter anyway.
