PHOENIX — The state House voted Tuesday to censure Tucson Democratic Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton for what she said was a “playful” act of moving and hiding the Bibles in the lounge used by lawmakers.
The 30-28 vote came after a majority of lawmakers rejected an alternate proposal by Rep. Travis Grantham, R-Gilbert, to expel her from the House. That drew 27 votes, short of the two-thirds required for such a move, as four Republicans said they could not go along.
“Everyone in this room, every family member I know, everyone has made a poor decision at one time,” said Rep. David Cook, R-Globe.
“I think this is overkill for a bad-chosen prank,” he said. “Her apology was good with me.”
But Rep. Justin Heap, R-Mesa, one of three lawmakers who filed the complaint against Stahl Hamilton, said harsh action is appropriate.
Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton listens Tuesday as fellow Democratic Rep. Mae Peshlakai explains why she will not vote to censure the Tucson lawmaker.
He said this was about more than Stahl Hamilton, who said she was making a point about separation of church and state when she hid the Bibles several times in March and April.
“It was the removing of Bibles and then shoving them under the cushions (of chairs) where members and guests sit, which compels other people to sit on their own sacred scriptures,” Heap said. “To do so is flagrantly offensive and something the House needs to take seriously.”
He rejected the idea that Stahl Hamilton was sending a message about whether Bibles are appropriate in a legislative chamber. Instead, Heap said, the message her actions sent to Christian members of the House and “millions of believing Arizonans is that their beliefs and their values are no longer welcome in the halls of government.”
No penalty attached
A censure by the chamber is described as an expression of sincere disapproval but carries no penalty.
When it came to the question of simply censuring Stahl Hamilton, Cook was the lone Republican who stood against that.
“This is a slippery, slippery, slippery slope in my opinion,” he told colleagues. “I do not like public shaming. I don’t like it in schools, I don’t like it in churches, and I darned sure don’t like it as it’s being used here as a weapon.”
Several Democrats came to Stahl Hamilton’s defense.
“It’s only the Bible I’ve ever seen in the House lounge,” not other holy books, said Tucson Rep. Nancy Gutierrez. “So the righteous indignation is misplaced.”
Rep. Mae Peshlakai of Cameron said for her it is simpler than that.
“I believe in forgiveness,” she said.
But House Majority Whip Teresa Martinez said the claim by Stahl Hamilton that she was hiding the Bibles in a sort of peaceful protest against what she saw as a violation of mixing church and state did not ring true.
“A protest is to be done publicly, to people, to their face,” said the Casa Grande Republican.
Martinez also questioned the sincerity of what Stahl Hamilton offered as an apology after a videotape from a hidden camera in the lounge showing her hiding the books became public.
“It is one thing to be sorry that you did an action,” she said. “And it is something else to be sorry that you got caught.”
Religion in the public square
Rep. Barbara Parker, R-Mesa, said there was another flaw in what Stahl Hamilton said was a protest against what she saw as improper mixing of church and state.
“It was never put into the Constitution and it should never be said in the government,” she said of that phrase. “We have the right to speak about religion in the public square. And we have a right to talk about it in our laws and as we make legislation,” Parker said. “It encompasses everything that we are.”
Rep. David Marshall, R-Snowflake, said the incidents of the Bible hiding cannot be seen in isolation.
He said when Stahl Hamilton ran for office she posted on Twitter “I am running for office because I am tired of seeing Bibles on the desks of representatives.”
“That shows a disdain for the holy word of God,” Marshall said, despite the fact “she professes to be an ordained minister.” Stahl Hamilton holds a master’s of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and says she is an ordained Presbyterian minister.
Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe, claimed there was an “orchestrated” effort to target Stahl Hamilton, starting with the placing of a hidden camera in the House lounge and proceeding through Tuesday’s vote.
But House Speaker Ben Toma, R-Peoria, has said he only agreed to installation of the camera after Bibles had been moved and turned up under couch cushions — and, in one case, in a refrigerator.
The incident — and the video that became public of her hiding the Bibles — drew national attention.
It also resulted in the complaint against Stahl Hamilton and a finding last week by the House Ethics Committee that she was guilty of “disorderly behavior.” The panel made no recommendation of punishment, leaving that to the full House.
Stahl Hamilton said nothing during the debate on either the motion to expel her or, when that failed, the motion to censure.
Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, D-Tucson, apologized Wednesday to colleagues for moving and hiding copies of the Bible in the House members’ lounge, saying she was trying to make a “playful” point about the separation of church and state. Video courtesy of Arizona Capitol Television.
