PHOENIX β The head of the House Ethics Committee is dismissing all 82 complaints against state Rep. Mark Finchem, an Oro Valley Republican.
Rep. Becky Nutt, R-Clifton, said Friday that none of the allegations against Finchem back up the contention that he βsupported the violent overthrow of our governmentβ or that he directly participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Those claims were at the heart of the main complaint filed a month ago against Finchem by state Rep. CΓ©sar ChΓ‘vez, D-Phoenix.
There is no question but that Finchem was at the rally that started in front of the White House. And Finchem posted a photo on Twitter taken once the mob had reached the Capitol.
βAll the while, Rep. Finchem was there encouraging their efforts and was even scheduled to speak at the rally,β ChΓ‘vez said in his complaint.
ChΓ‘vez also said Finchem encouraged those who overran the Capitol that day. All that, he said, made him βunfit for officeβ because he βsupported the violent overthrow of our government.β
But there is no evidence he entered the building. And that became a crucial point in Nuttβs decision to dismiss the case without demanding a response from Finchem and without investigating further, she said.
βAbsent such facts, the complaints amount to an objection to Rep. Finchemβs advocacy of controversial political opinions,β Nutt said in her decision not to proceed.
βBut the ethics committee is not β and cannot become β a forum for resolving political disagreements, no matter how important the issues at stake,β she said.
She reached the same conclusion about the 81 additional complaints received in the weeks following the initial one, saying many appeared to be form letters.
Finchem, who was furnished copies of all the complaints, declined to respond to the conclusion. House staffers said he never made a formal response, as that is not required.
Nuttβs decision to not pursue the matter drew an angry response from ChΓ‘vez, who called it βbeyond troublesomeβ that she would dismiss what he called βlegitimate allegations of sedition and insurrectionβ and all the other complaints without an investigation or a hearing.
βIf thereβs nothing to hide, thereβs nothing to hide,β he told Capitol Media Services. βBut I do think the severity of the incident on Jan. 6β means he βowes transparency to these people.β
ChΓ‘vez also said Finchem does have First Amendment rights to express his views and opinions βof which I completely uphold and would never want to disrupt.β But he said there is more than enough to call for further investigation.
One is that Finchem has deleted his social media. He also refused to comply with a public records request for copies of his text messages, with his attorney saying theyβre on his personal phone and not public.
Finchemβs lawyer Alexander Kolodin also noted there is an FBI investigation into the riot. And he said even if the records were public βthe threat of criminal prosecution gives rise to certain constitutional rights that may overcome the duty to disclose otherwise public documents under Arizonaβs public records law.β
ChΓ‘vez said there are other questions, including the Trump campaign reporting it paid a company owned by Finchem more than $6,000 for βrecount: legal consulting.β Finchem said it was for βcrowd control and security costsβ for the Dec. 18 hearing he helped organize so that Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani could detail what he claimed was evidence of fraud in the November election.
Even with Nutt declining to pursue an inquiry, this doesnβt end the potential political problems for Finchem.
Earlier this week, a majority of House Democrats introduced a formal resolution seeking his ouster for what they said are his improper actions both before and during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
To date, however, House Speaker Rusty Bowers has not taken any action on the resolution.
That likely leaves Democrats with the lone option of making a motion to demand an immediate vote. But Democrats control just 29 seats in the 60-member chamber. So without at least two Republicans in support, that effort would fail.