Trump indictment reminds us that Rusty Bowers stood tall — and mostly alone

Having read the 45-page indictment of the 45th president of the United States, I feel compelled as a proud Arizonan to say just this:

Thank you, Rusty Bowers.

The story of how the Arizona House speaker stood tall when Donald Trump and his co-conspirators came calling — refusing to throw in with their scheme to steal Arizona’s election — is not new.

But it certainly bears repeating, if only to remind people what real leaders look like.

Bowers wanted evidence. They had none

Bowers is what Arizona deserved, a public official who put country before party.

A staunch conservative who supported the reelection of Donald Trump but refused to give into the collective psychosis that descended upon the Arizona Republican Party once the people had spoken.

His character shines through in the indictment, which describes Bowers’ repeated refusal to cave into the pressure by Trump, Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, the architect of the fake elector scheme, to reverse Arizona’s vote:

• The Nov. 22, 2020, phone call, when Trump and Giuliani called Bowers, claiming to have evidence of widespread fraud and asking him to convene the Legislature to replace Biden electors with Trump electors. Bowers asked to see the evidence.

• The Dec. 1, 2020, meeting, when Giuliani met with Bowers at the state Capitol and the speaker again asked for the evidence. “We don’t have the evidence,” Giuliani conceded, “but we have lots of theories.”

• The Jan. 4, 2021, phone call, when Eastman asked Bowers to get the GOP-controlled Legislature to decertify the Biden electors.

“When the Arizona House speaker explained that the state investigations had uncovered no evidence of substantial fraud in the state, Co-Conspirator 2 (Eastman) conceded he “‘[didn’t] know enough about facts on the ground’ in Arizona, but nonetheless told the Arizona House Speaker to decertify and ‘let the courts sort it out,’ ” the indictment says.

“The Arizona House Speaker refused, stating he would not ‘play with the oath’ he had taken to uphold the United States Constitution and Arizona law.”

Other Republicans abandoned their honor

What remains utterly surprising — stunning, really — is the sheer number of Arizona’s so-called Republican leaders who were willing to play with their oaths or abandon their honor.

People like state GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward, Sen. Jake Hoffman, Rep. Anthony Kern and their fellow fake electors, people who declared themselves “duly elected” to cast Arizona’s 11 electoral votes for the guy who didn’t win.

People like Rep. Mark Finchem, who on Jan. 5, 2021, carried a letter signed by himself and 28 other GOP legislators, urging Congress to accept the Republican slate of presidential electors from Arizona, instead of the Democratic slate chosen by voters.

People like Rep. Andy Biggs, who urged White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to get legislatures to appoint new electors and attended a Dec. 21, 2020, White House meeting to spitball ways to keep Trump in office.

On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, he videoconferenced with Bowers, asking one final time if Bowers would sign on and support decertifying Arizona’s electors.

Bowers wouldn't.

Arizona got lies and an inept 'audit'

Biggs and Rep. Paul Gosar were among the leaders of the movement to decertify our vote later that day. Rep. Debbie Lesko went along with it, too.

As Trump’s supporters were storming the Capitol, Gosar was on the House floor spouting lies about Arizona’s vote.

“Over 400,000 mail-in ballots were altered, switched from President Trump to Vice President Biden or completely erased from President Trump’s total,” Gosar told his colleagues, in remarks that had to be cut short because a mob of angry Trump supporters was, at that moment, breaking into the Capitol and Congress had to beat a hasty retreat.

People like Senate President Karen Fann, who in January 2021 announced her plan to hire an “independent, qualified, forensic auditing firm” to audit Maricopa County’s vote. She then proceeded to hire the Cyber Ninjas’ Doug Logan, who was clearly neither independent nor qualified.

Turns out he was working with Trump’s closest allies and remained in contact with them throughout the audit, with one goal: To restore Trump to the White House.

People like state Sens. Wendy Rogers and Sonny Borrelli, gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and an entire roll call of Republican politicians who helped tear this state apart with their incessant, evidence-free claims that Arizona’s election was stolen.

Remember what Bowers (and others) did

While they were rushing to do Trump’s bidding, Bowers held onto his dignity and took a pass. The indictment even quotes his Dec. 4, 2020, public statement, made three days after his meeting with Giuliani:

“As a conservative Republican, I don’t like the results of the presidential election,” he said. “I voted for President Trump and worked hard to reelect him. But I cannot and will not entertain a suggestion that we violate current law to change the outcome of a certified election.”

In the end, Bowers — the guy who dared to ask for proof that Arizona’s election was stolen — lost a lot.

He was savaged by Trump, censured by the Arizona Republican Party, ridiculed by the party’s state chairwoman and harassed by “patriots” who descended on his Mesa neighborhood to scream through bullhorns that he was a pedophile.This, as his daughter lay dying inside his home.

And, oh yeah, Republican voters cast him out in the 2022 primary, replacing him with David Farnsworth, a guy who literally believes that the devil schemed up a conspiracy to steal the election from Trump.The Trump indictment reminds us that at least one Arizona Republican stood tall, guided by principle and conscience when all around him we witnessed shameful displays of cowardice and a craven abdication of honor.

Both he — and they — should be remembered.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trump indictment reminds us that Rusty Bowers stood tall