PHOENIX — House Speaker J.D. Mesnard will ask lawmakers to censure Rep. Don Shooter on Thursday after an investigation found “credible evidence” he violated House policy against sexual harassment.
A censure is an official vote by a majority of House of Representatives members that amounts to a public rebuke.
In releasing the 82-page report conducted by an outside investigator, Mesnard also said Tuesday that he is permanently removing Shooter, a Yuma Republican, from all committee assignments. That goes beyond the action Mesnard took last month when he stripped Shooter of his chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee after the allegations arose.
But Mesnard said he believes the investigators’ findings did not rise to the level that Shooter should be ousted from the state House.
“This is a judgment call,” the speaker said. He added a warning: “If there is any more misconduct in this sort of way, I will absolutely move for expulsion,” he said.
Mesnard conceded that, despite the seriousness of some of the allegations found to be credible, there are extenuating circumstances working against seeking to have Shooter removed from office.
Many, if not most, of the substantiated allegations predate Shooter’s election to the state House in 2016, going back to when he was a state senator.
Also, Mesnard said, “It is a big deal to override the voters in their district who sent him here.” He said voters will have their own opportunity to pass judgment on Shooter assuming he seeks re-election this fall.
Finally, expulsion requires a two-thirds vote; censure can be done with a simple majority.
Shooter, in a prepared statement, said he has not completed reading the 82-page report.
“This has been a humbling and eye-opening experience for me,” said Shooter, who has acknowledged the veracity of some of the allegations against him.
But Shooter, who previously apologized in a public House session, made it clear that, no matter what happens next, he does not intend to resign.
“I look forward to working to repair relationships and serving my constituents and our great state,” he said.
The speaker defended his decision to both remove Shooter from all committees as well as seek censure without taking the case to the House Ethics Committee, where Shooter would have a chance to confront his accusers and question them.
Mesnard said that process is not meant for this kind of sexual harassment allegation, if for no other reason than to protect the privacy of those who made allegations. The report contains the names of only those who have previously come forward publicly, he said.
“You bring them before the Ethics Committee, you are airing it out before the whole world,” he said. “We have to balance out the privacy of the victims coming forward so they are encouraged to come forward in the future.”
Separately, the investigators said they found no credible evidence that Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, who made allegations against Shooter, violated any House policies herself.
Shooter had alleged improprieties by Ugenti-Rita, saying she had a romantic relationship with a House staffer. But the investigators said Shooter had no personal knowledge of such a relationship.
The other allegation dealt with a masturbation comment Ugenti-Rita made to another lawmaker during a committee hearing. Investigators said there was no policy violation because the comment was not made to Shooter, the only complainant, and he did not feel harassed or intimidated by it.
Mesnard said he will propose new House rules to include a formal anti-harassment policy. He said they will “carry the force of law.”
He also will create a formal Human Resources Department for the House to handle personnel matters.
Finally, Mesnard said he will prohibit the consumption of alcohol on House premises. This formally closes the door on what has been a practice by some legislators of keeping liquor or beer in their offices.
Shooter and Ugenti-Rita both entered the Legislature in 2010. The report says it is likely that Shooter knocked on Ugenti-Rita’s hotel room door, a six-pack of beer in his hands, during an out-of-town conference. But the report said that, given Shooter’s general practices, there was no indication this action violated House policy.
The investigators did conclude Shooter crossed the line in leaving a gift of a tequila bottle for Ugenti-Rita along with a reference to a Kenny Chesney song called “Tequila.”
“The lyrics are overtly sexual, implying a romantic desire for another person,” the report says, saying the gift plus the reference to the song, “given its overtly sexual implication, pushes his conduct beyond appropriate friendliness or workplace pleasantries.”
The report also said there is reason to believe Shooter made “unwelcome sexualized comments to and about Ms. Ugenti-Rita, including about her breasts.”
Separately, the report said there is evidence Shooter acted inappropriately with others, calling his conduct while meeting one-on-one with lobbyist Amy Love “inappropriate, subjectively unwelcome, and occurred because of Ms. Love’s sex.” It says there is evidence Shooter told Mi-Ah Parish, a Korean-American woman and then publisher of The Arizona Republic, that the one thing he has not done on his bucket list was “those Asian twins in Mexico.”
And the report said it found credible allegations made by Kendra Penningroth, an intern for the Arizona Capitol Times, that Shooter, whom she did not personally know, “embraced her in a prolonged, uncomfortable, and inappropriate manner.”
But the report said there were “too many inconsistencies” in a complaint by lobbyist Marilyn Rodriguez that Shooter gripped her leg during a meeting.
