2 Dems skip their House ethics hearing; GOP committee chair calls it 'disrespectful'

The House Ethics Committee on Wednesday added a new rule: Subjects of ethics complaints must show up at their hearings.

The change was due to the no-show of Phoenix Reps. Oscar De Los Santos and Analise Ortiz. The first-term Democrats are the subject of ethics complaints alleging disorderly behavior, violation of House decorum rules and impermissible debate. The complaint centers on their actions after the House in April paused its work, rather than vote to repeal the 1864 abortion law in the immediate aftermath of a state Supreme court ruling upholding it.

The outburst came the day after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the Civil War era law, which bans abortion in almost every case, is the prevailing Arizona law.

The two lawmakers led some fellow Democrats in chants of "shame, shame" directed at their GOP colleagues, who quickly emptied out of the House chamber as the shouting continued.

They also confronted Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, whom they called a "liar" for his attempts to prompt a repeal vote. The Democrats felt Gress' action was hypocritical and self-serving, since he had sponsored bills a year earlier that recognized fetuses as live human beings.

De Los Santos and Ortiz chose to not attend Wednesday's hearing, as the rules allowed, and instead let their attorney speak for them. But offended by their decision to not appear, Republicans on the five-member panel voted to add a mandatory attendance requirement.

“I find that completely disrespectful," Rep. Joseph Chaplik, a Scottsdale Republican who serves as the committee chairman, said of the two Democrats' no-shows. "This hearing is really for them, to give them a voice.”

The committee took testimony from Rep. Barbara Parker, one of the Republicans who filed the complaints. The Mesa Republican said the lawmakers' actions made her feel unsafe. Her desk is in the corner of the House where the lawmakers verbally confronted Gress. The loud protest, she said, shattered her view of the House as a sacred place for civil debate.

Committee members also viewed several videos, photos and screenshots of text messages depicting the events of April 10.

Chaplik noted he has the authority to issue subpoenas to compel the two lawmakers to attend, but he had not yet decided whether to do so.

Attorney Jim Barton, speaking on behalf of Ortiz and De Los Santos, acknowledged the protest was loud.

"It probably made people in the room feel uncomfortable," he told the committee. But it did not rise to the level of an "attempted insurrection" or of a riot, as the complaints claimed, Barton said.

He urged committee members to see this as a teaching moment.

“There is a problem we have in America right now when people say they don't feel safe when they feel challenged," he said. “There’s a difference between feeling unsafe and feeling uncomfortable.”

The committee took the matter under advisement after a brief closed-door session for legal advice. It is unclear what action, if any, the committee will take next.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads as well as on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @maryjpitzl.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 2 AZ Dems skip their own ethics hearing, prompting new attendance rule