Harris is facing a House Ethics Committee investigation over the testimony by her guest speaker, Jacqueline Breger, who accused elected officials, judges, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and others of conspiring with a Mexican drug cartel. Rep. Liz Harris, R-Chandler, at a Jan. 26, 2023, press conference. Photo by Gage Skidmore (modified) || Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
By Ray Stern || The Arizona Republic
State Rep. Liz Harris knew details of a fake cartel bribery scandal that she invited a witness to share during a controversial hearing at the Capitol in February, according to the source of the testimony and a former state employee.
But the Republican lawmaker from Chandler didn’t disclose what she knew to legislative staffers who sought details of the planned presentation before the witness aired groundless accusations at the public hearing, emails obtained by The Arizona Republic show.
Harris is facing a House Ethics Committee investigation over the testimony by her guest speaker, Jacqueline Breger, who accused elected officials, judges, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and others of conspiring with a Mexican drug cartel.
The information came from Breger’s boyfriend, a local attorney named John Thaler who first aired them in court proceedings related to his divorce and child custody case and claimed his ex-wife and former mother-in-law were central figures in the plot.
The committee is scheduled to a hold a meeting Thursday on a complaint filed by a Democratic lawmaker accusing Harris of disorderly conduct for allowing the unvetted information that numerous people still apparently believe is true.
Harris is a first-time officeholder who made election conspiracies a central part of her campaign for the Legislature last year. The 41-minute presentation by Breger, a Scottsdale insurance agent, to the joint House and Senate Election Committee hearing caused an uproar. Harris tried to quell it five days later with a statement on social media that said the presentation “was not sufficient to substantiate these extraordinary claims.”
