Tucson lawmaker who hid Bibles says ethics complaint lacks merit

PHOENIX — A Tucson Democratic lawmaker is asking for the dismissal of an ethics complaint filed against her by three Republican lawmakers.

Attorneys for Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton said her actions last month to move and hide Bibles in the Arizona House of Representatives lounge was a “peaceful protest regarding the separation of church and state.’’ In a formal response Monday, they also said she acted “in response to the weaponizing of religion in politics.’’

Motives aside, her attorneys also pointed out that Stahl Hamilton made a public apology on the House floor.

But Stahl Hamilton is counting on more than that to end the matter.

The ethics complaint accuses her of theft, saying she was controlling the property of someone else — the Arizona House — by hiding it, even if only for a short period of time.

Her lawyers say that the complaint has no merit.

“Rep. Stahl Hamilton’s actions do not constitute theft as defined by Arizona law, as she has the legal right to use items in the members’ lounge,’’ they said in their response.

Other arguments

They also brushed aside the argument that Stahl Hamilton violated state and federal laws prohibiting harassment in the workplace and that she created a “hostile work environment’ by requiring her co-workers and staff to “unwittingly desecrate their sacred texts’’ by sitting on the Bibles she hid in couch cushions.

What’s wrong with that argument, her lawyers said, is that it is legally impossible for her to create that hostile work environment.

“She is neither an employer nor supervisor of legislators,’’ they said. “Thus, only House leadership and committee chairpersons can create a hostile work environment.’’

That leaves a third claim of “disorderly behavior.’’

Yet in filing the complaint, the three GOP lawmakers conceded there is no Arizona court case defining what that means and what it would take to be guilty of that.

Stahl Hamilton’s lawyers said that claim allegation fails “to state a cognizable claim under House rules.’’

They have one final argument for the House Ethics Committee.

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The committee rules require the signatures on any complaint to be notarized, but that didn’t occur here, they said. The three filing the complaint were Reps. Justin Heap of Mesa, David Marshall of Snowflake and Lupe Diaz of Benson.

In hands of Ethics Committee

Ethics Committee Chairman Rep. Joseph Chaplik, R-Scottsdale, will now give a copy of the response to the other four members of the panel, two Democrats and two Republicans. They have the option of dismissing the case outright or having a hearing where they can question Stahl Hamilton.

The next step if they hold the hearing would be to decide if there was a violation of House rules and, if so, whether to recommend discipline to the full House. A simple majority of the House could censure Stahl Hamilton; expulsion would take a two-thirds vote.

The complaint resulted from lawmakers noticing Bibles placed in the House lounge repeatedly disappearing. Some were found under chairs and couch cushions; at one point, a Bible was found in the lounge refrigerator.

House leaders approved placing a hidden video camera in the lounge. It captured images of Stahl Hamilton taking the books off of tables and hiding them.

When the video became public, she apologized, saying she was trying to make a “playful’’ point about the separation of church and state.

That led to the formal complaint being filed. Heap, Marshall and Diaz said Stahl Hamilton’s public statements “did not provide sufficient justification or excuse for her conduct.’’

“These public comments came only after the representative was aware that her actions had been caught on camera and the incident became a matter of national concern,’’ they wrote.

Stahl Hamilton filed own complaint

There may be some partisan payback in the complaint.

It was Stahl Hamilton who filed the recent complaint against then-Rep. Liz Harris, a Chandler Republican, over inviting testimony at a legislative hearing alleging that legislators, judges and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints were involved in a criminal scheme to rig elections.

The House then found that Harris invited false and defamatory testimony and expelled her on April 13.