GOP Legislators in Arizona expel GOP legislator for bringing conspiracy theorist to testify.

[JMartJr]

Not sure if this belongs here -- it is a current event, but may not have any sequel to keep up with or significance beyond the moment. Still, for a board with the interest in conspiracy theory peddlers that this one has, it probably should be on here somewhere. If this belongs in a different place on the site, or if somebody types faster than me and beats me to it, feel free to move or delete.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/12/politics/arizona-house-republican-expelled-liz-harris/index.html

State Rep. Liz Harris was expelled Wednesday from the Arizona House of Representatives for ethics violations resulting from inviting a conspiracy theorist to publicly testify before lawmakers earlier this year.

The resolution to expel the first-term Republican, elected in November, stated that she had brought "disrepute and embarrassment to the House of Representatives," resulting in "disorderly behavior." Forty-six Arizona representatives in the GOP-controlled House voted to remove her from her elected position, meeting a two-thirds threshold to expel lawmakers. Thirteen members opposed her expulsion.
...
Arizona Rep. Lupe Diaz, a fellow Republican, voted to expel Harris, saying on the House floor, "We need to have integrity in the institution, and I do not take this vote lightly. I do vote yes."

Rep. Alex Kolodin, also a Republican, defended Harris ahead of the vote. "They [the public] will perceive that they don't have a true voice in this body because when they elect somebody to rock the boat, and she does it … admittedly in the wrong way … a way that should have been better considered..."

When the resolution was passed, a voice off camera could be heard yelling, "Shame on you. Shame, shame, shame!"

The Arizona Legislature live stream then cut off.

In February, Harris had invited Jacqueline Breger to present findings of what Breger and Harris claimed were an investigation. ..."

Harris is a well-known conspiracy theorist and election denier in Arizona. She was a constant figure during the GOP-led review of Maricopa County's 2020 ballots. Election experts condemned the review calling it an attempt to overturn the state's election results.

Italics mine, to note that if anything about this might triggger more conspiracy theorizing, it would be the cutting of the feed, a favorite "sure sign of gthe conspiracy" of the space-is-fake crowd or UFO spotters who watch ISS feeds for things that they do not understand...

 

[econ41]

Not sure if this belongs here -- it is a current event, but may not have any sequel to keep up with or significance beyond the moment.

I can see problems if you or "we" try to limit this thread to discussions of ONLY the conspiracy theory sub-issue. The move to maintain standards of political conduct could be a more tempting topic.

 

[FatPhil]

I dived into the resolution to expel (linked above), in order to see how much conspiracy theorising was going on, and it seems an embarassing hodgepodge of accusations against various parties:

https://s3.documentcloud.org/docume...ittee-report-1-p2-xlarge.gif?ts=1681238382706
There's lots more in the document about what followed, but none of it is real blockbuster stuff, it's mostly procedural.

It's best summarised by the conclusions, which I've massively snipped for brevity (they are each supported with evidence), and hand-copied possibly with unintentional typos, namely:

1. THE COMMITTEE FINDS that Breger made criminal allegations ... (page 4)
2. THE COMMITTEE FINDS that, prior to the Joint Hearing, Representative Harris knew or was at least aware that Breger would present criminal allegtions ... (page 5)
3. THE COMMITTEE FINDS that Representative Harris took steps to avoid compliance with internal House deadlines, which required disclosure of Breger's presentation in advance of the Joint Hearing. (page 6)
4. THE COMMITTEE FINDS that Representative Harris was not surprised or upset by Breger's tersimony and REJECTS Representative Harris's testemony to the contrary. (page 7)
5. THE COMMITTEE FINDS that, as the primary organiser of the Joint Hearing and the acting Vice Chair during Breger's presentation, Representative Harris violated the inherent obligation to protect the integrity of the House. (page 7)

Given the bipartisan, and supermajority, support for the expulsion, I think there's very little "conspiracy" case to answer - there's broad agreement that Harris was engaging in behaviour unbefitting of her position pre-, during, and post-presentation.

Of course, that's what *they* want you to think...