Key Points:

• House Ethics Committee chair declines to hear complaint against Rep. John Gillette

• Democrats cited the Republican’s anti-Muslim social media posts

• Gillette fired back, accusing Democrats of having anti-American values

House Ethics Committee Chairman Rep. Lupe Diaz said he will not take up a complaint against a Republican representative who recently made several anti-Muslim comments on social media, and some House Democrats said they no longer feel safe in his presence. 

Diaz, R-Benson, informed Democrats last week of his decision to reject their complaint against Rep. John Gillette, R-Kingman. Democrats accuse Gillette of dehumanizing an entire religious group by referring to Muslims as “savages” and “terrorists” in a story published in the Arizona Mirror on Sept. 9.

Diaz wrote in a Sept. 12 letter that it would have been unprecedented for him to take action on the complaint against Gillette since remarks, statements or lawmaker opinions are traditionally not the subject of an ethics inquiry. 

“In light of recent events, it is imperative that government institutions protect the freedom of speech, rather than take actions to silence, punish, or censor speech simply because someone might find it offensive or disagreeable,” Diaz wrote. “The inquiry you request this Committee to make would result in no more than an inquiry into the sincerity of Representative Gillette’s beliefs or a debate into the merits of those beliefs — neither for which an Ethics Committee hearing is the proper venue.”

On Sept. 14, following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Rep. Sarah Liguori, D-Phoenix, sent an email to House members calling on them to be mindful of their words and to seek unity instead of division. 

“There is no ‘us versus them,’ “ Liguori wrote in her email. “We may represent different districts and different parties, but that shouldn’t define us, because at the end of the day, we are moms and dads, sisters and brothers, friends and neighbors.” 

Gillette responded to Liguori’s email that same day saying “unity is no longer an option” and accusing Democrats of attacking Republicans and their constituents. 

“Your side has called us Nazis, fascists, racists, misogynists, and a ‘direct threat to democracy,’” Gillette’s response stated. He continued to criticize Democrats for aligning with “anti-American” values and said Democrats have awakened a “sleeping giant” like the Japanese military did during the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the terrorists who carried out the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11.

House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos, D-Laveen, called Gillette’s response “troubling.”

“Such comparisons are beyond inflammatory and, in the current climate, are credibly being taken as a call to violence against Democratic lawmakers. Given that Representative Gillette is known to carry a firearm, several members have expressed that they no longer feel safe in his presence,” De Los Santos said in a statement. “We call on elected officials of all stripes to disavow this language and escalation. Silence is tacit endorsement.”

Gillette is not the only lawmaker who has recently been the subject of an ethics complaint over their speech. 

Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, filed an ethics complaint against Sen. Analise Ortiz, D-Phoenix, earlier in September after alleging that Ortiz’s social media posts revealing the location for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity qualified as disorderly behavior.

Senate Ethics Committee Chairwoman Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, also didn’t take any committee action with Hoffman’s complaint, but instead referred it to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona to determine if Ortiz interfered with U.S. law enforcement.

In 2024, a House ethics panel determined both De Los Santos and Ortiz engaged in disorderly behavior after the two led a chant on the House floor against Republicans who tabled a vote to repeal the state’s 1864 abortion ban. 

Republicans who filed the 2024 complaint accused De Los Santos and Ortiz of inciting a riot on the House floor, but the two said in a joint statement that Republicans were trying to suppress speech they don’t agree with. The House didn’t take further action on the complaint after the Ethics Committee published its report. 

Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Prescott, also filed a complaint against former Democratic Rep. Mark Cardenas in 2017 — back when Finchem served in the House — over a Facebook post in which Cardenas was critical of Republicans who supported that year’s budget. 

Finchem took issue with Cardenas describing the budget as being made up of “sweetheart deals and bribes to lawmakers” and Finchem accused Cardenas of engaging in impermissible debate by deliberately misrepresenting other lawmakers. Finchem’s complaint also wasn’t heard in the Ethics Committee that year.