In Arizona, a Democratic member of the state Senate has filed an ethics complaint seeking the removal, for now, of two other members of the body from their legislative committee assignments after their inclusion in an indictment dealing with an alleged election-meddling scheme from 2020.
It hinges on the assembling in Arizona after the 2020 presidential election of a slate of sham electors backing Trump despite Joe Biden actually winning the state, which mirrored undertakings in a slew of other states from Trump-aligned individuals. The targeted legislators, Anthony Kern and Jake Hoffman, both participated as sham electors backing Trump in Arizona in 2020.
“I agree with the Senate President that every American has the right to due diligence, but we owe Arizona the [peace] of mind to know that indicted members of this body cannot further weaponize the offices that they hold,” said legislator Brian Fernandez, the Democrat responsible for the push, in which he wants the duo booted until resolution of their new criminal proceedings, which are the work of state Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat elected to the role in 2022.
Republicans are the majority party in the Arizona state Senate (in addition to the state’s other legislative chamber), though its current governor is Democrat Katie Hobbs. According to journalist Ray Stern, the targeted legislators actually hold relatively prominent leadership positions in their state body. Kern is the chairman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, and he’s currently running for Congress, though he’s in just his first term in Arizona’s Senate. (He was a legislator elsewhere in time before the role.)
Kern is targeting a Republican-held Congressional district where the GOP incumbent is leaving, and also running in the GOP primary to replace her are some big names, like failed Senate candidate Blake Masters and failed candidate for the role of Arizona’s attorney general, Abe Hamadeh.
