GOP’s reaction to a lawmaker’s alleged sleazy behavior? Zzzz
Turns out there is something infinitely more shocking than a state legislator being accused of soliciting a threesome with a lobbyist.
A stunner that surpasses the specter of that legislator lying on a bar while the young lobbyist drinks alcohol out of her belly button, then licks salt from the lawmaker’s stomach and sucks a lime wedged in her mouth.
Just when you think we’ve plumbed the depths of this sleazy story, comes now the reaction of Republicans who run the Arizona Legislature. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. The female lobbyist’s allegations about Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, RScottsdale, landed on the state Capitol lawn like an unexploded bomb last week after the lobbyist’s deposition was filed in court.
While Senate Democrats quickly called for an investigation, Senate Republicans have no interest in knowing what happened here.
No interest in finding out whether then-Rep. Ugenti-Rita in 2016 sexually harassed a lobbyist whose job depends upon getting legislative votes. No interest in finding out whether Ugenti-Rita again harassed the lobbyist – this time by threatening to expose her as a liar – in December 2018, just after Ugenti-Rita’s election to the Senate.
No interest in finding out why House investigators discounted the lobbyist’s claims about Ugenti-Rita, which surfaced as they investigated sexual harassment claims that led to the 2018 expulsion of then-Rep. Don Shooter, R-Yuma.
“We do not comment on ongoing litigation and this issue is involved in litigation,” Senate President Karen Fann, R-Prescott, told The Arizona Republic’s Andrew Oxford. “And in addition to that, this issue was already heard in an investigation. So consequently, it was already decided on. If there is any new allegations about any new situations, I will certainly look into it.”
Senate Majority Leader Rick Gray, meanwhile, warned that Democrats better back off or risk seeing one of their own investigated, though he didn’t name which one.
“If they want to open up all the cans of worms from years past, we can open up all the cans of worms,” Gray, R-Sun City, told the Arizona Capitol Times’ Julia Shumway. “This was years ago. It was in the other chamber. Both people have been reelected.”
Reelected, perhaps, because all the worms remained safely down there in the dirt?
Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, who as House speaker oversaw the Shooter investigation, told Shumway he stands by that investigation.
“I will say this,” he added. “I think if somebody is feeling like a victim that they should be listened to, and I do think that their wishes for what should happen should be respected.”