Shooter might run for state Senate again
Backers collect signatures, try to get expelled lawmaker on ballot
Former Rep. Don Shooter, who was expelled from the state Legislature after a sexual harassment investigation, says he’s willing to serve if a small group of Republicans can gather enough petition signatures for him to qualify for the ballot.
The Arizona Capitol Times reports Shooter said earlier this month that he wouldn’t run for public office again. But Shooter has since said he’d be willing to serve again, but only if a small group of supporters gathers his petition signatures.
“We’ll know (today) whether we got enough signatures, and I’m not sure yet,” he told the Yuma Sun on Tuesday. “I’ll have to collect them all and count them and see what happens.” Shooter, a Republican from Yuma, had announced a run for state Senate in 2018 and begun collecting signatures when Rep. Michelle Ugenti became the first of nearly two dozen women to publicly accuse him of sexual harassment.
An investigation conducted for the Legislature scrutinized reports from 13 accusers and found “credible evidence” Shooter had violated the body’s policies against sexual harassment. On Feb. 1 the House of Representatives voted 56-3 to expel Shooter, the first action of its kind in 70 years.
Shooter was the first state lawmaker in the United States to be expelled for sexual misconduct since the #MeToo movement began.
He maintains he was de-
nied his right to due process by Speaker of the House J.D. Mesnard in the days leading up to his ouster, because he didn’t get a chance to formally respond to his accusers. He filed a notice of claim — as a precursor to a lawsuit — in mid-April against the speaker and Gov. Doug Ducey’s chief of staff, seeking $1.3 million over his exit from the Legislature.
Besides the claims in the lawsuit he was being targeted because of his attempts to expose corruption in how the state awarded information technology contracts, Shooter said state leaders wanted to remove him as a barrier to changing state law and putting Yuma County’s rights to Colorado River water in jeopardy.
“Yuma’s going to need a warrior. And if I don’t get elected that’s that, I’m there if they want to vote,” he said. “But I do believe this, when people find out the real reason behind all this, they’re going to carry me on their shoulders, and I’m not joking. I know that sounds insane, but it’s not.”
He has acknowledged many of the reported incidents of him making inappropriate or lewd comments were accurate, but said they aren’t in the same realm as the rape charges former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has been arrested on, or the crimes Bill Cosby was convicted of.
“I was accused of making bad jokes and inappropriate comments, and making people uncomfortable. And that’s all true,” he said.
He said the small group of backers are predominantly from Yuma but they have support from Maricopa County, where two-thirds of voters live in heavily Republican District 13. The support is based on his legislative record including securing a state veterans’ home for Yuma and money for joint technical education high school districts, he said.
“They’re my core supporters who have supported me in every election, and there’s quite a few of them. But I’m not going to name names or anything. It’s already starting a fight,” he said. He expects his signatures will be challenged if he does turn them in, but feels confident they’ll be found valid.
Shooter wouldn’t say how many signatures he gathered prior to his expulsion or speculate on the odds he’ll gather the 474 petitions necessary to qualify for the Republican primary.
“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out,” he said. “Then we’ll find out if the voters really care about the stuff that’s happened or if they care about having an effective Legislature.”
If he qualifies, Shooter would be a candidate for the district’s state Senate seat, which he held from 2013 to 2017 before serving in the House.
Constantin Querard, Shooter’s former consultant who now represents incumbent Sen. Sine Kerr, said his recollection is that Shooter had somewhere between 400 and 500 signatures collected last year — a candidate would be well served to submit at least 700 to make up for invalid signatures.
Three candidates have qualified for the August primary for District 13’s Senate seat: Kerr, a Republican from Buckeye appointed to the office after Steve Montenegro resigned for his unsuccessful run for Congress; Republican Brett Backus of Waddell, a consultant; and Michelle Harris,
an Air Force veteran who’s unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
Russ Clark, a local radio talk-show host and former Yuma County supervisor who is a friend of Shooter’s, said he has helped get a few petitions signed to put him back on the ballot, but is not leading the effort.
“Don worked hard for this community, and that doesn’t need to be overshadowed by this incident,” he said. “But it doesn’t make the incident go away, either, I’m not excusing it. But it wasn’t a felony,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.