Senate Dem says ethics complaint against Mastriano declined

Mar. 7—HARRISBURG — A Democratic state senator said the Pennsylvania Senate Ethics Committee rejected his investigation request into allegations that Republican Sen. Doug Mastriano aided an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

"I have been informed by the committee that the decision has been (made) not to conduct the investigation; no investigation," Sen. Art Haywood, D-Montgomery/Philadelphia, said Thursday during a livestream on his public Facebook page.

Haywood declined to release a letter from the six-member committee concerning its decision, saying it's confidential, and said he had no details as to how the committee members voted.

Much of the committee work is shielded from the public, even the fact that a preliminary investigation is underway is confidential.

"I'm very disappointed that the Ethics Committee reached a conclusion that an ethics investigation wasn't going to happen. It's a terrible statement, in my opinion, about the body," Haywood said.

Haywood announced on Jan. 2 that he'd file a complaint with the committee, leaning on a report created by legal advocates from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, a watchdog organization behind efforts to disqualify former President Donald Trump from qualifying for ballots in the 2024 presidential election.

Those efforts have since been thwarted by a unanimous ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court that prevents states from disqualifying candidates in federal elections under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

At the time, Haywood said Mastriano's public record proved that he committed insurrectionist acts.

He cited that Mastriano traveled to D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, for the "Stop the Steal" rally that devolved into an attack on the U.S. Capitol. There is no evidence that Mastriano participated in any violent activity that day.

Haywood also cited Mastriano's post-election Senate committee hearing in Gettysburg in 2020 that Trump called into himself. And, he said Mastriano used a "bully pulpit" as an elected official to rally supporters behind debunked election conspiracies.

Both Mastriano and a spokesperson for the Senate Republican Caucus previously dismissed Haywood's efforts, likening it to partisan politics and grandstanding.