Arizona state Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, a Democrat and Presbyterian minister, speaks at a information convention in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico on May 27, 2022.

Daniel Becerril/Reuters

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Daniel Becerril/Reuters

Arizona state Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, a Democrat and Presbyterian minister, speaks at a information convention in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico on May 27, 2022.

Daniel Becerril/Reuters

PHOENIX — Arizona House Republicans tried, however failed, to expel a Democratic lawmaker who admitted to a Bible-hiding prank caught on hidden digital camera.

Instead, GOP representatives may solely muster a 30-28 vote to censure Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton on Tuesday.

Stahl Hamilton, a Tucson Democrat and ordained Presbyterian minister, has by no means disputed the info of the matter – on three separate occasions, swiping Bibles from finish tables within the Arizona House members’ lounge and hiding them underneath cushions, and in a single occasion, a close-by fridge. She has described her actions as a playful commentary on the separation of church and state and a protest in opposition to the weaponization of faith in politics.

But many Republicans had been outraged by what they referred to as the “desecration” of scripture – some commented that they could have unknowingly sat on the Bible when it was hidden underneath seat cushions.

“To do so is flagrantly offensive, and something the House needs to take seriously,” stated Rep. Justin Heap, considered one of three Republicans who filed an ethics grievance in opposition to Stahl Hamilton over the incidents.

Heap, who voted for expulsion, stated the matter “really comes down to a simple question: What do we as a body value more? The reputations of Arizona politicians or the reputation of God in the world?”

“I know which side of that debate that I come down on,” Heap stated.

Other Republicans referenced the April expulsion of former Rep. Liz Harris for inviting a witness to current false expenses about lawmakers and different state officers — after which, in line with an ethics committee report, mendacity about her involvement within the outrageous testimony.

Though the circumstances of their actions had been vastly completely different, the House Ethics Committee discovered each Harris and Stahl Hamilton in violation of House Rule No. 1, which governs disorderly conduct.

Still, the vote fell nicely in need of the two-thirds majority wanted to kick a member out of the House. Democrats and 4 Republicans rejected the movement to expel.

One of these Republicans, Rep. David Cook, additionally voted in opposition to the censure and defended Stahl Hamilton’s character whereas lamenting her poor judgment.

“Everyone in this room, everyone you know, every family member that I know, has made a poor decision at one time or another. And I think this is overkill for a bad, chosen prank,” Cook stated in explaining his vote in opposition to expulsion. “And an apology was good with me.”

The Tuesday votes adopted a full-blown investigation into the matter, even after Hamilton was caught, admitted to and apologized for her actions. The committee’s unanimous seven-page report solid doubt on the sincerity of the apology, in addition to Stahl Hamilton’s characterization of her actions as a “joke.”

“Many members of this committee do not view this as an act of jest,” the report acknowledged.

The report concluded that, by hiding Bibles, Stahl Hamilton “deprived members who choose to exercise their religious beliefs by referring to the biblical texts of an opportunity to do so.”

The committee additionally wrote that the “offense and disrespect” Stahl Hamilton displayed for the Bible weren’t distinctive to the Bible.

“Her actions would have been equally offensive and disrespectful if it had been the Book of Mormon, Qur’an, or any other religious text,” the report acknowledged.

However, the Bible is the one non secular textual content out there within the members lounge.