PHOENIX β A Senate panel recommended confirmation of Gov. Katie Hobbsβ pick to head the Transportation Department β but not before the chairman grilled her on personal beliefs and, at one point, suggested she was not being truthful.
The unanimous vote Monday of the Committee on Director Nominations came after Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, the chairman, sought to ferret out how Jennifer Toth feels about certain transportation policies with political implications he indicated he believes have no merit.
He singled out ideas some groups have promoted about road safety such as the roles of racism in road construction decisions and of toxic masculinity in accidents.
βMy job is to discharge the duties and the policies as set forth by the governor and the Legislature. And if the Legislature wants to adopt those policies, then Iβll be willing to implement them,β said Toth, who until now was director of the Maricopa County Transportation Department and the county engineer.
Hoffman wasnβt satisfied. βDo you believe that those statements have merit, not βis that the official policy of ADOTβ?β he asked.
βMy feelings arenβt relevant in terms of being able to implement those policies,β Toth responded.
Hoffman persisted. βThis committee is here to evaluate you,β he said. βAnd I feel that itβs relevant, which is why Iβm asking the question.β
Hoffman followed up with questions about concepts of so-called transportation equity and mobility justice. He did not like it when Toth said she is unsure exactly what those are supposed to mean.
βI would question that you had not heard of transportation equity or mobility justice given that youβve had an extensive career in the industry,β Hoffman said.
He noted that the Maricopa Association of Governments, which handles transit planning β and works closely with state and county transportation agencies β has mentioned the ideas as part of federal laws that require projects seeking federal funds to identify the needs of those with disabilities, older adults and people with low income.
βI find it hard to believe that you donβt know what that is,β Hoffman said. βIβll take you at your word. But I do think the public deserves honest and forthright responses.β
All that drew a verbal slap from Sen. Eva Burch, D-Mesa, who suggested Toth was being asked to answer questions about βcontentious partisan semantics.β
Contentious process
The confirmation process itself has become more contentious this year as the Republican-controlled Senate scrapped the process used for decades in which gubernatorial nominees for various positions were screened by standing committees with areas of expertise.
Under that process, Tothβs nomination would have gone to the Senate Transportation and Technology Committee, one that Sen. Lela Alston, D-Phoenix, said might have expertise in the kinds of transit ideologies on which Hoffman was grilling Toth.
Instead, a special panel, with a 3-2 Republican edge, gets to screen all nominees.
While the full Senate still gets the final decision, the recommendation is given great weight. Its 3-2 recommendation against confirming Theresa Cullen as the stateβs new health director doomed that nomination.
Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, said the change was designed to ensure the qualifications for all nominees are thoroughly explored.
But what also changed is that the Republican-controlled Legislature must deal with a Democratic governor and her nominees for the first time in 15 years. The GOP majority is seeking to use the nomination process to potentially thwart Hobbs from making policy changes through agency rules that Republicans may not like.
βThe clearest pictures of what Katie Hobbsβ policies will be is who she nominates to lead executive agencies,β Hoffman said. βWeβre here to thoroughly and objectively evaluate nominees for their commitment to execute Arizona laws rather than creating new public policies that are in conflict with constitutional separation of powers.β
Much of the questioning appeared to be about potential strategies for reducing accidents.
Hoffman focused his attention on Vision Zero Network, a group that has ideas about redesigning streets and slowing speeds. He claimed the policies, implemented in other locations, actually increased accidents.
Toth said she canβt speak to what has happened elsewhere. But she said fatalities went up nationwide in 2021 as COVID emptied roads and those still on the highways were driving faster.
βItβs a nationwide issue,β Toth said.
She did say that ADOT has experimented with variable speed limits.
βAnd weβre finding that itβs not working very well,β she said. βSo thatβs something we need to take a look at to see if that is a viable strategy.β
But Toth declined to commit to any single method of reducing accidents and road deaths, saying the state needs to look at all options.
ADEQ nomineeβs hearing postponed
Separately Monday, Hoffman said he has put off a hearing on Hobbsβ nomination of Karen Peters, a deputy Phoenix city manager, to head the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.
βThere was some concerning information that weβve become aware of,β he said Monday without providing specifics. βAnd some additional investigation and vetting is necessary.β