Witnesses agree Arizona lawmaker made 'balcony' death threat; Leezah Sun's 'personal attacks' cut off

Troubles grew for a Democratic state lawmaker as two key witnesses in an ethics investigation testified the lawmaker said she would throw a Tolleson official over a balcony and “kill” her.

Rep. Leezah Sun of Phoenix, who’s been accused of violating the Arizona Legislature’s rule against “disorderly behavior,” stuck to her previous denial about the statement during Thursday’s House Ethics Committee hearing.

She also denied that the hotel where she reportedly made the statement had a balcony, as witnesses claimed, but a committee member pulled up a photo of the balcony on her phone.

The committee’s chair, Rep. Joseph Chaplik, R-Scottsdale, cut off Sun repeatedly during her questions and closing arguments for making remarks he considered irrelevant or inappropriate, including “personal attacks on the witnesses.”

The second hearing in the investigation fleshed out the incomplete testimony from the first ethics hearing on Dec. 19 in which Tolleson officials testified they had heard about Sun’s statement secondhand. This time, the three Republicans and two Democrats on the committee got to hear directly from witnesses Liz Goodman and Kayla Destiny Ruiz-Davidian, who both work with a local lobbying firm, about their “strange and uncomfortable” Aug. 29 meeting with Sun in Tucson.

Sun, a first-term lawmaker who’s running for state Senate this year, faces a potential House vote for her censure or expulsion, depending on the committee’s final report. Democratic leaders in the House filed an ethics complaint against her in November that alleges a pattern of bad behavior.

Besides the threat, the allegations include using profanities and intimidating officials at Tolleson’s City Hall, leading them to have a restraining order filed against her; sending Instagram friend requests to the officials’ family members, which intimidated them; interfering with a court-ordered child-custody transfer; and trying to intimidate Superintendent Roger Freeman of the Littleton Elementary School District.

Sun's comments at conference ‘took us all by surprise’

Unlike in the previous hearing, Sun sat at a witness table unaccompanied by lawyer Garrick McFadden, who had been representing Sun pro bono.

McFadden, who lives in Washington, D.C., declined to say why he wasn’t there; Sun didn’t return a text message seeking comment.

Goodman, a managing principal at Hush Blackwell Strategies who lobbies for clients including utilities and health-care companies, sat at another witness table with her attorney, Josh Grabel. She told committee members she had prearranged a meeting with Sun at a conference sponsored by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns at the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa.

She recalled that Sun sat down with Goodman and two other employees of the lobbying firm in the hotel’s lobby, near a balcony that led to a lower level. Other small groups of conference attendees were nearby. She said the meeting, as Sun had been previously informed, was to discuss business that some of her clients wanted to do in Tolleson, which is within Sun’s West Valley district. When talk turned to Tolleson, however, the conversation “immediately took a dark turn, an uncomfortable tone,” Goodman said.

Sun’s response “was really unexpected,” Goodman said. “It took us all by surprise. It was laced with profanities about several members of the city of Tolleson who I had not heard of and did not know.”

According to Goodman, Sun said if she saw Pilar Sinawi, Tolleson’s chief government affairs officer, at the conference, “'I will b---- slap her, throw her over the balcony' — and there was a visible balcony from where we were sitting — 'and kill her.'”

Sinawi testified in the December hearing that when she learned of Sun’s alleged statement, it shook her “to the core” and she feared for her safety.

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

Ruiz-Davidian, who prefers the last name Ruiz, testified she heard Sun say the same thing, but with an expletive. That led committee member Rep. Travis Grantham, R-Gilbert, to question Ruiz’s statement to the committee, which didn’t include the expletive.

“Is there an extra f-word in there that maybe we’re just adding in or missing,” Grantham asked Ruiz.

“The f-word was said,” she replied. “I’m positive she said she would (expletive) kill her.”

Committee members clarified with the witnesses whether the setting was casual or professional, and if Sun’s demeanor could have indicated she meant her statement in “jest.” The two women remained steadfast that nothing about the meeting, which took place in daylight hours and with no cocktails, was casual or seemed to be said as a joke.

Arizona lawmaker accused of 'witch hunt'

When it was her turn to question Goodman, Sun tried to turn the tables on the witness, referring to herself in third person: “Has Rep. Sun ever done anything to retaliate against you as a result of you breaching our Legislature-lobbyist confidentiality protocol, or anyone at your firm?”

Chaplik disallowed the question after Grabel, Goodman’s lawyer, objected. Sun then tried to question Goodman about how Sinawi learned about the statement, asking Goodman to list everyone she told about it.

Grabel objected again, saying the answer would put the people on the list “at risk” and that “it seems to me like a witch hunt.”

Chaplik agreed and wouldn’t let Sun pursue the line of questioning. The scenario repeated itself several times with other questions.

Sun has previously described a conspiracy by political opponents as the motive behind the complaint against her. She appeared to claim that Goodman was part of it, saying Goodman “goaded” her to make statements against Tolleson officials.

“Clearly my words were misconstrued and misrepresented,” she said. “Ms. HB Strategies Liz got what she wanted.”

Chaplik halted Sun's closing arguments before she finished.

Injunction: Arizona Rep. Leezah Sun decries 'false statements' as court grants restraining order against her

The two Democrats on the panel, Reps. Jennifer Longdon and Chris Mathis, brought up two new issues to the committee.

Mathis noted that Sun showed up at the Littleton district’s board meeting on Jan. 9 and made statements that could be interpreted as “intimidation” of Superintendent Roger Freeman as an ethics investigation witness.

Longdon asked Sun about the child-custody incident and whether she had been told by legislative lawyers before the incident not to participate. Sun declined to answer.

But Chaplik didn’t allow further questions on the allegations, saying they weren’t germane to the day’s hearing.

He would not say when the committee’s report on Sun would be ready.

Allegations lodged: Democrats file ethics complaint against Leezah Sun, accused of threatening 'to kill' Tolleson employee

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

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Witnesses agree: Arizona Rep. Leezah Sun made 'balcony' death threat