FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

GOP congressman sues Arizona for booting him out of office over sexual misconduct allegations

The state rep tried to use the ouster to his advantage when he campaigned last summer to get back to the statehouse as a senator
GOP congressman sues Arizona for booting him out of office over sexual misconduct allegations

Former Arizona state rep. Don Shooter filed suit this week claiming his removal from the state legislature was orchestrated to “keep him from exposing corruption.”

The Republican congressman lost his job early last year over sexual misconduct allegations — the first time an Arizona lawmaker has been voted out of office since 1991 — and then tried but failed to get back into the statehouse by running for Senate last August.

Advertisement

Shooter’s colleagues voted him out of office 56-3 in early 2018 after several women accused him of creating a hostile work environment and sexual harassment. Shooter, who is married and had served in the statehouse since 2011, tried to use the ouster to his advantage by campaigning with the slogan “MAKE A LIBERALS [sic] HEAD EXPLODE,” but two opponents easily defeated him. Shooter is now claiming he was denied due process because the House Ethics Committee never considered his case, according to the Arizona Republic. He’s seeking an as-yet-undecided amount of monetary damages.

"His constitutional rights under both the United States and Arizona Constitutions have been violated," the lawsuit says. "His rights to due process, equal protection, and to confront and cross-examine his accusers were breached."

Shooter told VICE News in an email that he had “documentation to support everything” he claims in the lawsuit and offered to provide proof.

“It has taken me a long time to gather it all, but understood that I can't simply make unsupported allegations,” he said.

A big part of Shooter’s argument against the Arizona government is that he believes lawmakers probed allegations against him more vigorously than they probed other situations, including scandals that involved Republican Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, one of Shooter’s accusers. Ugenti-Rita has faced controversy over an alleged affair with a House staffer. In the lawsuit, Shooter claims that Ugenti-Rita “repeatedly sexually harassed a direct subordinate,” though these allegations come from lawmakers and not people involved. He said that she wasn’t subjected to the same scrutiny.

Ugenti-Rita and Shooter are currently embroiled in their own legal battle, with the former suing the latter for battery and defamation. Shooter has filed a countersuit claiming that Ugenti-Rita has defamed him with false accusations.

Shooter’s new lawsuit names the state of Arizona, former Arizona House Speaker J.D. Mesnard, and Kirk Adams, the ex-chief of staff to Gov. Doug Ducey, as defendants. Mesnard and Adams’ wives are also defendants, with Shooter claiming that the men attacked him to benefit “their respective marital communities,” the Republic reported.

Cover: In this June 14, 2018, file photo, Don Shooter testifies during a hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. A judge said Friday, June 15, 2018, that Shooter, the first state lawmaker in the U.S. to be ousted over sexual misconduct allegations after the rise of the #MeToo movement, can run for the Arizona Senate because he is still a resident of the district he wants to represent. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool, File)