PHOENIX - An outburst by frustrated activists in a legislative hearing room was ill-advised but put a spotlight on a larger problem in which many citizens believe the Republican-controlled House turns a deaf ear to their viewpoints, the chamber's top Democrat said Wednesday.

Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano later voiced a similar criticism, but several GOP committee chairmen immediately defended a colleague's decision to eject the disruptive activists, and one dismissed the criticism by Rep. Phil Lopes of Tucson as unfounded because citizens have many ways to make their views known.

The exchanges Wednesday were prompted by the ejection Monday of dozens of chanting activists from a House hearing room where they'd gone to protest a committee chairman's decision the week before to severely limit testimony on numerous bills aimed at curbing illegal immigration.

Lopes, D-Tucson, told the House during a floor session Wednesday he understood why Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Mesa, had the Arizona Interfaith Network members removed.

However, though the protest was ill-advised, it was "emblematic of a larger problem" in which many citizens believe that the House frequently won't listen to their viewpoints, Lopes said.

"This is the people's house but the people feel locked out," Lopes said, adding he agrees that testimony time is limited for people with "certain views."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, dismissed Lopes' criticism as "grandstanding and diatribe."

Legislative committees only have limited time to hear numerous bills, and legislators make the situation worse by introducing more and more bills, said Farnsworth, a former House majority leader. "The chairmen have responsibility to be gatekeepers."

The Arizona Legislature is part-time and its annual regular sessions typically last four to five months. Many of the bills and other pieces of legislation introduced _ approximately 1,600 this year _ are never considered, and committee chairmen's practices regarding public testimony on those bills that are considered vary widely, with some welcoming nearly all-comers and others sometimes not allowing any testimony.

Farnsworth said citizens don't have to testify to a committee to make their views known because they can vote, send e-mails or letters to House and Senate members, call lawmakers on the phone and make public statements through the news media.

"They have a voice as loud as they want to make it," Farnsworth said. "The fact that somebody disagrees with what the chairmen do ... does not mean that voice is stifled."

Two other Republican committee chairmen focused their responses to Lopes only on Gray's decision to eject the disruptive activists, saying it was appropriate.

"This could have become a very dangerous situation," said Rules Committee Chairman Bob Robson, a Chandler Republican who also serves as House speaker pro tem.

Asked later about the issue during her weekly availability with reporters, Napolitano said she was "troubled" that members of the public weren't being heard by lawmakers.

"It's important for a legislature to listen to people who are spending their personal time to come down and express a point of view and sometimes that is not happening down at the Capitol," she said.