Ousted rep subpoenas House docs from probe
Former state lawmaker Don Shooter has issued a subpoena for documents gathered in the House-ordered investigation into sexual-harassment allegations that resulted in him being booted from the chamber in February.
The subpoena aims to unearth documents the House has held back from public view, citing concerns about betraying the confidence of witnesses.
House Speaker J.D. Mesnard has refused requests by Republican House members to release the documents, along with a similar request by The Arizona Republic.
Shooter said he expects the documents will show a cover-up of other lawmaker misbehavior that was worse than his.
He also believes the documents will help show that he was expelled from the House not because of boorish behavior, but because he was probing misspending in state government.
“We are looking for the truth, whatever the truth will be,” Shooter said Thursday. “We will follow the facts and evidence where they lead us.”
The subpoenas are part of a legal conflict between Shooter, the first Arizona House member expelled from the body since 1948, and Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale.
Ugenti-Rita filed a suit against Shooter claiming comments he made damaged her reputation. Shooter filed a countersuit last week, claiming defamation.
He also said his lawsuit would be the key to uncovering a host of wrongs against him and repair his reputation.
Shooter said subpoenas were prepared Thursday. He said Friday afternoon he had no word yet of the parties being officially served.
Who received the subpoenas
The subpoenas were directed toward the two attorneys, Craig Morgan and Lindsay Hesketh, of the firm Sherman & Howard who were hired by Mesnard to conduct the sexual-harassment investigation.
Morgan did not respond to a request for comment. Hesketh declined to comment.
The subpoena asks for all “notes, tapes, memos, and all other writings and electronically gathered information” the attorneys created while investigating harassment allegations.
The Jan. 29 report released by the attorneys after three months of investigation found “credible evidence” that Shooter had behaved inappropriately with women. Beginning last fall, at least seven women, including three state lawmakers, had publicly told stories of Shooter acting inappropriately toward them.
The report also looked at the behavior of Ugenti-Rita. But the report found her behavior, including a reputation for sexually charged jokes, did not violate House policy.
However, the report did find evidence that Ugenti-Rita’s fiance, on three occasions, sent unsolicited and sexually explicit messages to a House staff member. The report concluded that Ugenti-Rita did not know about the messages between her fiance — Brian Townsend, a longtime Capitol insider and lobbyist — and the staff member.
Shooter claims he was targeted
Shooter said, in an interview with The Republic last week, that Ugenti-Rita’s behavior was covered up by Mesnard and the documents he expects to obtain will prove it.
“I’m not without spot nor blemish,” he said in an interview last week. “This whole thing was prompted by my refusal to go along with the corruption at the Capitol.”
Shooter believes he was targeted because he asked questions about a series of contracts, collectively worth millions, that were awarded with no bids.
A subpoena he said went out Thursday targeted the state Department of Administration. It asks for information regarding no-bid contracts awarded to Amazon Web Services, Google and Periscope.
The House report cost taxpayers approximately $213,800, according to legal invoices obtained by The Republic through a public-records request.
The Republic requested documents related to the investigation in December, before the report’s January release. The House denied that request.
At the time, Mesnard said he was protecting the privacy of witnesses, some of whom, he said, had requested confidentiality.
The Republic pressed the matter and the House released 340 pages of materials in March. But those records still did not include notes of witness interviews.
The witnesses investigators spoke with included former Republic Publisher Mi-Ai Parrish and attorney David Bodney, who represents The Republic. Bodney has said that neither he nor Parrish requested confidentiality when speaking to investigators.