By Andrea Kelly and Christopher Conover
Tucson Rep. Daniel Patterson submitted his resignation Wednesday to House Speaker Andy Tobin. Tobin said he accepted the resignation, effective immediately.
That came less than two hours after the Arizona House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to recommend Patterson's removal from the House and minutes before floor action was expected.
The committee met for more than two hours Wednesday morning to hear testimony from Patterson and ask questions about the allegations that he has repeatedly violated ethics rules and has a pattern of intimidating and threatening behavior. The Ethics Committee then voted unanimously to recommend his expulsion.
Watch Andrea Kelly and host Tony Paniagua discuss the resignation on Arizona Illustrated:
The last time a member was expelled from the Arizona House was in the early 1990s. Carolyn Walker, who was involved in the AZSCAM scandal, was expelled at that time. Before that, two members were expelled for having a fistfight at the Capitol in the 1940s.
Patterson asked the committee repeatedly to hold a full, formal hearing so he could question his accusers, referencing a 33-page report prepared for the committee by an independent team of attorneys. The committee hired the team to look into allegations that Patterson violated House ethics rules. Patterson has denied the allegations, and continued to do so Wednesday.
Patterson apologized for offending other members and repeatedly said he did not intentionally threaten anyone.
"Nothing I've done warrants my resignation or removal," Patterson said.
He said he has already been punished enough because he was removed from his committee assignments, no longer has an administrative assistant and was asked to stay away from the House last week.
Rep. Eddie Farnsworth said he has seen Patterson willfully violate House rules in the past, but Patterson said that statement could apply to many members of the House.
Patterson based most of his testimony on the fact that many of the claims in the ethics report were not attributed. The report says many of the people the investigators interviewed didn't want their names used in the report, for fear that Patterson would verbally or physically retaliate against them.
Patterson says not being able to face all of his accusers made it difficult for him to respond to the allegations, and he said the claims were unsubstantiated.
The report includes declarations from 14 named House members detailing the threatening or intimidating behavior they experienced or witnessed between Patterson and another member. Farnsworth pointedly asked Patterson if, with those declarations, Patterson still believes those allegations are unsubstantiated.
Patterson said he couldn't agree or disagree with Farnsworth because he hasn't had an opportunity to interview his accusers.
Patterson repeatedly said he made mistakes and wishes he would have handled situations at the Capitol differently.
Rep. Ted Vogt told Patterson that his responses to committee questioning indicated he had not learned from his mistakes, and that Patterson perceives his behavior differently from how others see his actions.
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