Rep. Leezah Sun, accused of intimidating officials, goes on offensive at ethics hearing

A Democratic state lawmaker accused of intimidating officials and abusing her power begged an ethics panel on Tuesday for “mercy” while also claiming she was the victim in the case.

Rep. Leezah Sun of Phoenix, a first-time elected official who’s now running for state Senate, admitted to the five-member House Ethics Committee that she used profanity during a meeting in Tolleson and shouldn’t have interfered with a child custody transfer.

But she denied threatening anyone with violence and refuted details of interactions with her described by witnesses, who she accused of inventing “colorful stories.”

“As far as being accused, abused, harassed — this is what I've went through with these various individuals,” Sun told the committee from a small table in a House conference room, her pro bono lawyer, Garrick McFadden, at her side.

Rep. Jennifer Longdon, D-Phoenix, asked Sun if her stance was that each of the five witnesses was “lying to us today.”

“I wouldn’t say it was 100% lying,” Sun replied. “I cannot prove with evidence. But what has been submitted is inaccurate, and that is what I am adamantly, vehemently oppos(ing.).”

After more than two hours of testimony from Sun and others, the Republican-led committee went into executive session for about 20 minutes, then adjourned for the day.

It’s unclear when the committee, made up of three Republicans and two Democrats, will decide if Sun broke a House rule banning lawmakers from committing “disorderly behavior.”

When the committee eventually makes its findings known to the full House, the chamber may do nothing, or vote to censure or expel her. That won't happen before the Legislature begins its 2024 session on Jan. 8.

A censure requires a simple majority of the House’s 60 members. Expulsion requires a two-thirds majority vote.

Allegations include threats, intimidation attempts, improperly wielding influence

Sun stands accused of using foul language and trying to intimidate Tolleson officials during an impromptu meeting in May over a freeway exit. The three officials, including Tolleson City Manager Reyes Medrano Jr., later filed an injunction against harassment against her in Maricopa County Superior Court, saying her behavior “seriously alarmed and disturbed” them.

Sun could challenge the injunction in court, but hasn’t yet done so.

At a Tucson conference in June, a witness said she overheard Sun say about Tolleson city lobbyist Pilar Sinawi that she would throw the woman off a balcony “to kill her.” She later denied the death threat in an interview with The Republic, saying she said she would “b----slap” the woman. She acknowledged in the interview she sometimes used “violent words” as part of her “colorful language,” but didn’t mean anyone harm.

The woman who claims she overheard the balcony remark is Arizona lobbyist Liz Goodman, Tuesday’s testimony revealed.

Goodman said in a statement on Tuesday that she intends to cooperate with the Ethics Committee, which contacted her on Tuesday to ask her to testify.

"I will tell them exactly what I reported to the Tolleson Police Department," she said.

The police report states Goodman was "so disturbed" by Sun's balcony statement that she told police and then "warned Ms. Sinawi that she should be concerned about Ms. Sun."

Other allegations in the ethics complaint include trying to use her position as a lawmaker during a child custody exchange in which she wasn’t a party. She is reported to have invoked the name of state Attorney General Kris Mayes, according to a court supervisor charged with making the exchange happen in a Dairy Queen parking lot. Sun denies she ever mentioned Mayes during the incident.

Sun is also accused of trying to intimidate the Tolleson officials by sending Instagram friend requests to members of their families.

Sun’s fellow Democrats in the state House filed an ethics complaint against Sun last month, calling the allegations against her “very serious.”

Sun and McFadden submitted a rebuttal to the committee last month that downplayed the accusations, admitting to “salty” language but denying she intentionally tried to intimidate anyone.

At the hearing, Sun’s explanations for her behavior had to compete with dramatic testimony by her accusers.

A rebuttal sent by McFadden to the committee last month downplayed the allegations and said they don’t “rise to the level” of violating the behavior rule for House members.

Contradictions between Sun and witnesses

Besides the official complaint, Littleton Elementary School District Superintendent Roger Freeman wrote a letter to the Ethics Committee in November accusing Sun of threatening his job during a meeting with her in December 2022. Freeman alleges she complained about the district’s board president, then suggested she’d have Freeman investigated by the state under a trumped-up charge.

Freeman testified that when he asked Sun during that one-on-one meeting for more information about the legal basis for the investigation, “she said it’s the law that lets her have anyone investigated.”

Freeman said that when he asked Sun what the allegation would be, she replied “she didn’t need an allegation.”

McFadden then asked Freeman if it were true Sun only mentioned the state law because she thought it would be good for the law to apply to charter schools.

“That’s an absolute fabrication,” Freeman shot back.

Sun acknowledged that she had used profanities during the Tolleson meeting with City Manager Reyes Medrano Jr., lobbyist Pilar Sinawi and assistant government relations liaison Alicia Guzman. But she never “used them as a noun” directly at someone.

Longdon contradicted her, repeating two vulgarities Sun admitted to saying at or after the meeting, and noting they were nouns.

The three Tolleson officials each also said they were disturbed by the way Sun kept “rifling” through her purse during the May meeting with her, as if she were going to produce a weapon. Sun said she never did that, and questioned why the detail wasn’t in the police report that followed the May meeting and led to the restraining order.

Sun says allegations 'politically motivated'

After the hearing, Sun said the allegations against her were “politically motivated” and related to her primary race for state senator in the Democrat-heavy Legislative District 22. Sun hopes to beat incumbent Sen. Eva Diaz, who won a write-in campaign in the West Valley district after the resignation of Diego Espinoza.

Sun declined to say more about the supposed conspiracy, or whether she thought certain committee members were biased against her. She hinted the committee won’t give her a fair result.

She called the accusations against her “very theatrical and extremely inaccurate.”

“We know the moving parts of our district's primary race,” she continued. “And they decide to make a very aggressive move against me.”

Hearing caps a busy year for House ethics panel

The House Ethics Committee already has had a busy year.

In 2023, its members reviewed complaints against Democratic Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, D-Tucson, and former Rep. Liz Harris, R-Chandler, ultimately finding that both women had committed disorderly behavior. The term that has no strict definition under House rules.

The House voted 46-13 in April to expel Harris for lying about disinformation she allowed an ally to present at a hearing.

In June, members voted 30-28 to censure Hamilton for repeatedly hiding two Bibles kept in the House lounge.

Reach the reporter at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on X @raystern.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Leezah Sun knocks 'politically motivated' allegations after ethics hearing