The Arizona House Ethics Committee spent just over $218,000 investigating former Rep. David Stringer, including $16,000 paid to a private investigation firm that tracked down a 1983 police report showing the former lawmaker was accused of paying boys for sex, according to records released Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Arizona Supreme Court told Capitol Media Services on Friday that his agency is unable to find Stringer's 2003 application form seeking permission to practice law in this state.

Claiming his rights were violated, ousted state Rep. Don Shooter has filed suit demanding unspecified damages.

Democrat Rep. Reginald Bolding is bringing his own House ethics complaint against Rep. David Stringer and dropping his push for an immediate vote to expel his Republican colleague.

House Republicans today bypassed a motion to expel Rep. David Stringer in favor of an ethics investigation of recent allegations against their colleague.

A letter sent to committee members Wednesday by Republican Sen. Kimberly Yee says she will dismiss the complaint against Sen. Catherine Miranda unless two other members object. The move comes after the state attorney general's office found no evidence Miranda knowingly broke the law or misrepresented herself to voters signing the petition.

In a political tussle, a freshman House Democrat publicly accused the caucus leader of having an "inappropriate relationship" with a staffer, despite having no evidence.

Democratic Arizona senators, even those once interested in pushing for an ethics hearing into the actions of Sen. Don Shooter at a Yuma charter school earlier this year, now say it’d be a waste of time holding hearings on an issue that police and prosecutors have already dealt with in full.

The news today (June 28) about Murphy and Shooter has prompted some observers to wonder when the two senators will face ethics charges. After word of Shooter’s transgression broke in March, Dem senators said they weren’t ready to file an ethics complaint because the police hadn’t investigated the incident and charges hadn’t been filed, but there will be renewed pressure for them to file a complaint.

Southern Arizona Democrats’ hopes to have former Rep. Daniel Patterson replaced by one of their own were dashed today when the Secretary of State said the legislative seat will be filled by an independent.