Democratic leaders in the Arizona House of Representatives filed an ethics complaint on Friday against one of their own.
The complaint, signed by House Minority Leader Lupe Contreras, D-Avondale, cited previously reported allegations that Rep. Leezah Sun, D-Phoenix, harassed Tolleson city employees and made verbal death threats.
The ethics complaint also included a new allegation that Sun interfered in a court ordered transfer of child custody. According to a statement by a court-appointed case supervisor, Sun intervened on behalf of a friend, intimidated the supervisor and claimed to represent Attorney General Kris Mayes.
A spokesman for Mayes confirmed Sun never represented the AG’s Office.
"This was a very difficult decision for everyone on our team because it involves a member of our caucus,” Contreras said in a statement. “But we believe the documented allegations are very serious and warrant an ethics investigation, and we believe in holding each other accountable for our behavior as public servants. It's as simple as that.”
'A pattern of behavior'
Contreras said information about the custody exchange allegation came to Speaker Ben Toma’s office from an outside third party over the summer, and that Sun declined to speak to Democratic leadership about the matter.
“When the most recent allegations from the city of Tolleson were brought to light, we believed the alleged custodial interference incident spoke to a pattern of behavior and so we opted to include it as part of this complaint,” Conteras said in the statement.
Sun previously denied that she made death threats or harassed Tolleson employees, though she did tell the Arizona Republic she said she would slap a lobbyist who works for the city. Sun did not respond to a request to comment on the new allegations.
Republican Rep. Joseph Chaplik, who chairs the House ethics committee, will now decide whether to investigate the complaint.
2 other ethics investigations
Chaplik oversaw ethics investigations earlier this year after legislators filed complaints against Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, D-Tucson, and former Rep. Liz Harris, R-Chandler.
The House voted to expel Harris in April after the committee found she was aware that a woman she invited to testify before legislators would claim, without evidence, that a host of elected officials, including Toma, took bribes from the Sinaloa cartel.
House Republicans attempted to expel Stahl Hamilton in June after she admitted to hiding Bibles in the House’s members’ lounge but could not amass the votes necessary to remove her from office. Instead, they voted to censure Stahl Hamilton over the prank.
