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Arizona House leader explains how he'll deal with harassment

Arizona House Speaker J.D. Mesnard explains how the House is handling more than a half-dozen allegations of sexual harassment against a member on "Sunday Square Off."

The Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal is spreading beyond Hollywood into state capitols across the country. Arizona is one of them.

On this weekend's "Sunday Square Off," we hear from:

  • Arizona House Speaker J.D. Mesnard, who explains how the House is handling more than a half-dozen allegations of sexual harassment against a member.
  • Democratic State Rep. Isela Blanc of Tempe, who explains what Mesnard could do to send a stronger message to members accused of harassment.

Also on the show, Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts and political analyst Chris Herstam discuss how the Republican-led Legislature is handling the harassment allegations.

Herstam says Mesnard needs to remove elected officials and their staffers from the process, and bring in human resources professionals accustomed to these kinds of issues.

About four hours after the show taped Friday, Mesnard announced he was bringing in outside professionals to work with House staff. He also suspended the chairmanship of Republican State Rep. Don Shooter of Yuma, the target of several harassment allegations.

Roberts and Herstam also discuss:

  • Whether last week's election results in Virginia are a sign of what's to come in Arizona in 2018.
  • The five hottest rumors in Arizona's U.S. Senate race. It looks like one former member of Congress widely mentioned as a candidate is going to pass on the race.

"Sunday Square Off" airs at 8 a.m. Sundays on 12 News, after "Meet the Press."

Arizona Capitol figuring out how to handle harassment cases

Arizona House Speaker J.D. Mesnard explains he is handling more than a half-dozen allegations of sexual harassment.

Democratic rep wants stronger message on harassment

Democratic State Rep. Isela Blanc of Tempe says legislative leaders should send a stronger message to members accused of harassment.

What Virginia votes means for Arizona in '18

Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts and political analyst Chris Herstam discuss whether last week's election results in Virginia are a sign of what's to come in Arizona in 2018.

Checking out the 5 biggest rumors in the Arizona Senate race

We ran down the five hottest rumors about the race in four minutes with political analyst Chris Herstam and Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts.

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