Rep. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, speaks in support of the Arizonans for Voter ID Act during a press conference outside the Arizona Senate on Aug. 17, 2021. Photo by Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror.
By Ray Stern | Arizona Republic
Tensions between Republicans in the Arizona Legislature over election-related bills reached a snapping point this week, with insults and accusations flying about bank robbers, tyrant-like behavior, child-like tantrums and bills dying from political payback.
There was even a threat to use state troopers to find two wayward House members, prompting one lawmaker’s mother to fret online about armed officers sent to find her “darling daughter.”
No troopers were actually deployed, but it almost got there.
The drama started when Reps. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, and Jacqueline Parker, R-Apache Junction, who support far-reaching changes to the state’s election system, left the Capitol on Tuesday just before lawmakers were to vote on several bills, including three related to elections.
House rules bar members from leaving after votes are ordered. When Speaker Rusty Bowers learned the pair were missing, he huddled with other lawmakers and staff for about half an hour to consider using law enforcement to compel them to come back.
Before the Arizona Department of Public Safety got involved, however, Bowers instead rescheduled the three bills — which failed for lack of Republican votes — for Wednesday. They failed again that day due to missing lawmakers. Parker and Rep. Jeff Weninger, R-Chandler, both had excused absences.
Hoffman fiercely criticized Bowers, R-Mesa, and Majority Leader Ben Toma, R-Peoria, on a radio talk show Wednesday morning, saying that House leadership knew “days in advance” that he would be gone on Tuesday and couldn’t vote.
Bowers “decided to play games” by involving DPS, Hoffman told host James T. Harris on KFYI (550 AM), because Bowers — whom he called a “tyrant” — has “repeatedly said that despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary, the 2020 election was a perfect election with no irregularities and no chance of fraud.”
Toma and Bowers “torpedoed multiple election-integrity measures,” Hoffman said, before planning to send “armed DPS officers after the two most conservative members of the House,” apparently referring to himself and Parker.
Hoffman is a leader in spreading false claims about the 2020 election and sent a letter to then-Vice President Mike Pence the day before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot asking Pence not to accept Arizona’s electoral votes for Joe Biden.
Bowers told The Arizona Republic that Hoffman’s story was “hogwash” and said neither Hoffman nor Parker told anyone they would miss votes on Tuesday. If they had, Bowers said, he would not have put up the three bills for consideration.
The Legislature’s attendance sheet shows that Hoffman and Parker clocked in just before 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, along with other lawmakers, prior to the planned voting session on several bills, including the three related to elections.
The three bills would: ask the federal government to allow Arizona to require federal-only voters to show proof of citizenship; make it a felony to help someone vote who’s already registered in another state; and to allow on-site vote counting at polling places.
Election bills draw scrutiny, opponents
The conflict came as GOP factions in the House and Senate remain divided over how far to go in changing the election system. They may also have a touch of legislative cabin fever: Lawmakers, unable to agree on a state budget, have puttered around for weeks, called in from across the state on some days just to vote on a few minor bills.
