Ethics panel head dismisses activists’ complaint vs. Farnsworth
The head of the Senate Ethics Committee has dismissed a complaint against Eddie Farnsworth, the Republican senator who had migrant-rights advocates expelled from a public hearing after they called an immigration measure racist.
Committee Chairwoman Sen. Sine Kerr, R-Buckeye, said she would not give the complaint a hearing because Farnsworth was within his rights to “remove members of the public from a committee meeting for failing to adhere to proper decorum.”
“Arizona’s Open Meetings Law provides the public with a right to ‘attend and listen to the deliberations and proceedings’ but does not give the public a right to speak,” Kerr wrote in a letter to other Ethics Committee members.
She also said that “a committee chair’s decision to limit or prevent testimony on a bill is not a violation of rights.”
Members of Living United for Change in Arizona had filed the ethics complaint Feb. 18, five days after they showed up at
the Capitol to protest Senate Concurrent Resolution 1007. The contentious measure, which was dropped last week, would have enshrined Arizona’s ban on “sanctuary cities” in the state constitution.
Lobbyist Hugo Polanco was testifying on behalf of LUCHA, saying the resolution would be “a return to the racism, divisiveness and hate of (Senate Bill) 1070” when Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, stopped him. “You can testify, but there’s nothing racist about anybody up here,” Farnsworth said. “You don’t need to be vitriolic.”
When Polanco insisted the legislation at hand was also “racist, divisive and hateful,” Farnsworth cut him off. He then asked security personnel to remove Polanco if he continued to argue and announced the committee was done hearing public comment on the measure.
LUCHA Director Alejandra Gomez tried to speak anyway, and several members of the group were told they could be arrested and charged with trespassing if they didn’t leave the hearing voluntarily.
“We believe Sen. Eddie Farnsworth committed a gross violation … and urge the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate and reprimand this behavior,” LUCHA’s leaders wrote in the complaint.
“The entire point of public testimony is for the public to share their opinions and insights into proposed legislation. The only logical conclusion for the silencing of Mr. Polanco was simply that Sen. Farnsworth did not like what he was saying.”
Farnsworth has not commented on the complaint. But during the hearing, he insisted he had “been fair with everyone” and reminded the audience he had “cautioned (Polanco) after his original vitriolic testimony.” And, like Kerr, he emphasized expectations for “decorum.”
“There are rules in this committee … I try to be fair, I try to give everybody the same amount of time,” he said. “If you want to speak, you’ll have an opportunity to speak. What you won’t be able to do is disrupt this committee.”
Several members of LUCHA didn’t get a chance to speak, though, despite saying they had signed in using “the proper protocol.” And Polanco insists it was Farnsworth who “broke decorum first.”
“He stopped my testimony prematurely and stopped public testimony prematurely. Members of LUCHA and the other folks who were there only started protesting in response to that,” he said Tuesday. “I disagree with (Kerr’s) interpretation of the events.”
Ethics Committee members could force Kerr to revisit her decision if they formally object to the dismissal by March 2. If that happens, the committee will vote on whether to proceed with an investigation.
Ethics complaints filed in the House after another hearing devolved into a shouting match last week were pending as of Tuesday morning.