Hobbs has deal with Senate president on treatment of state agency nominees

PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs said Wednesday she got a commitment from Senate President Warren Petersen to treat her nominees to direct state agencies differently than it did last year, even though the Senate won the lawsuit against her.

But Petersen and Sen. Jake Hoffman, his hand-picked choice to head the special Director Nominations Committee, told Capitol Media Services the governor is mistaken if she thinks she can try to push through the same picks whose nominations stalled last year. And the Senate president said if Hobbs wants a different outcome the onus is on her to send different — and from his perspective — better nominees.

Hobbs, however, gave no indication she has any intention of changing her mind.

All that suggests a new stalemate when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

But one thing will be different: A judge ruled the governor can’t repeat her tactic of withdrawing the names from Senate confirmation and then using a procedural move to put the same people back in charge of the agencies as “executive deputy directors.”

The issue dates back to the decision by Petersen after Hobbs was elected in 2022 to form the special panel.

Prior to that, agency nominees were screened by standing committees with expertise in specific areas. So, for example, the person tapped to run the Department of Health Services would go to the Health Committee.

Petersen said he wanted more extensive vetting of the new governor’s choices. He tapped Hoffman, the founder of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, to head it.

Hoffman, in turn, made it clear he would do a deeper dive into each nomination. He noted that agency regulations can have the effect of state laws. And Hoffman said better screening will protect Arizonans “from unelected partisan hacks who seek to advance a radical political agenda.”
Hobbs press aide Christian Slater responded in kind.

“Extremists like Jake Hoffman would rather engage in partisan attacks to push their radical political agenda than work across the aisle to support veterans, grow jobs and invest in small business, and protect Arizona’s children,” he said.

Several of her nominees were confirmed and several were rejected.
But another 13 found themselves in a sort of legal limbo as Hoffman refused to bring them up for a vote. Under state law, they could serve for only a year without confirmation.

So Hobbs instead withdrew their nominations but immediately renamed them as deputy directors of the same agencies. That left them in charge as there were no actual directors.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney ruled in June that maneuver was an illegal effort to avoid the legally required legislative oversight of agency directors. Earlier this week, facing a possible court order, the governor agreed to again send nominations to the Senate when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

“We have an agreement with the president that our nominees will get a fair consideration,” she said Wednesday.

Petersen, however, that “fair consideration” is depends on what he believes is a commitment from the governor.

“Her picks will be better and there will be better upfront communications about getting the best nominee possible,” Petersen said.
Hoffman said Wednesday there won’t be any new special considerations next session.

“The people of Arizona deserve agency directors who will follow the law free from the influence of outside special interests and partisan political agendas, something Hobbs failed to deliver in her first batch of nominees,” he said.

An what Hoffman has now to back him up that he didn’t have last year is that court order that the procedure she used last year is illegal, and, now, an agreement filed with the court to once again start sending nominations to the Senate.

“In light of Hobbs’ acknowledgment that her political stunt violated the law, I expect that moving forward the quality of her nominees and the level of communications from the Ninth Floor (where the governor’s office is located) will improve,” he said.

Hobbs, however, indicated she isn’t about to change her mind on her picks — and is likely to just re-send the nominations of those 13 individuals whose nominations stalled last year in Hoffman’s committee.

“(These are) nominees that I will remind everyone came through a bipartisan transition committee,” she said Wednesday, calling them “highly qualified for the positions they’ve now held for more than a year and a half, most of them.”

Despite the agreement, Hobbs continues to insist it was Senate who “politicized the process.”

But the governor also is clearly hoping for a way around the same stalemate.

“We’re going to have a new Legislature in January,” said Hobbs who has been raising money to elect Democrats like herself in November and potentially end the Republican majority.