Tucson's Dr. Theresa Cullen rejected for state's top health post

PHOENIX — Pima County Health Director Theresa Cullen was rejected Tuesday in her bid to become the state’s top health official.

The voice vote in the Senate followed a blistering three-hour confirmation hearing last week in which Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, who chaired that panel, repeatedly berated her and the actions she took as Pima’s health chief during the height of the COVID pandemic. That panel voted 3-2, along party lines, to recommend Cullen not be confirmed.

Tuesday’s action also came despite the fact that Senate Minority Leader Raquel Teran, D-Phoenix, said Gov. Katie Hobbs had withdrawn Cullen’s name from consideration. Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, said that message was not received by the Senate secretary and ordered the vote to proceed.

Cullen’s last day as county health chief was scheduled to be Friday. But Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher said Cullen has earned the right to continue in the position.

“We hired her because she’s one of the finest public health physicians in the country who has had a distinguished career,’’ Lesher said Tuesday. “Of course we want her to continue leading our public health agency.’’

Cullen, in a statement, was philosophical about what happened, saying she was “honored’’ to have been considered for the state health director post.

“While the state job hasn’t worked out, I love being Pima County’s public health director,’’ Cullen said. “And there remains a lot of work to do making Pima County one of the healthiest counties in the nation.’’

Hobbs’ press aide Murphy Hebert disputed any notion that the confirmation hearing leading to Tuesday’s Senate vote went badly because Cullen was not properly prepared.

“We were prepared for a legitimate hearing,’’ she said. “What that committee hearing was was was an ambush. And they should be ashamed of themselves.’’

In a prepared statement, Hobbs detailed Cullen’s experience both nationally and internationally in her 27 years of public service, evidence the Democratic governor said lawmakers clearly ignored.

She gave no hint of who she will now tap for the job.

“If the Senate’s Director Nominations Committee is unwilling to acknowledge the skill and expertise of Dr. Cullen, there may be no public health professional in the state they would endorse,’’ Hobbs said.

“As long as Republicans choose politics over the people of Arizona, some of the most talented and qualified candidates will choose not to enter state service,’’ she continued. “And it is the people of Arizona who will suffer most because of these political games.’’

But Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City, in a statement put out by Senate Republicans, dubbed Cullen a “medical tyrant.’’

None of the questions raised in last week’s hearing had to do with Cullen’s experience.

Instead, GOP lawmakers peppered her with questions about policies implemented in Pima County since she became its health director in June 2020. Those included things like an overnight curfew and masking requirements during COVID. Cullen said she was simply advising county supervisors who made the final decisions.

There were things that weren’t the decisions of supervisors, however.

One was the decision by the county health department to put up a website listing the names of merchants who were found to have repeatedly violated requirements for masking and social distancing. Hoffman said that amounted to public shaming.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Perhaps the biggest concern of Republicans was the closing of schools.

Cullen said she was not the person who decided when schools should send children home and that those calls were made by district officials. Hoffman said that was irrelevant.

“Under your guidance, they (students) suffered innumerable harm in terms of lack of proficiency in school, academic scores falling, socialization being reduced, depression, suicide,’’ he said. Hoffman said it turned out that children were the least likely to suffer the worst effects of the virus.

Cullen defended her actions, saying she was not only erring on the side of protecting children but also trying to keep them from bringing the virus home to more vulnerable adults.

Hoffman, in a statement Tuesday, said senators made the right decision.

“We have Dr. Cullen on record in a number of media publications stating she supported the scientifically baseless and prolonged school closures, lockdowns, curfews, mask mandates, vaccine mandates and public shaming of those who did not comply with her discriminatory COVID directives,’’ he said. Hoffman pointed out that when he asked Cullen whether she believes, in hindsight, the benefits of school closures outweighed the costs, she responded, “I don’t know.’’

What did not come out at the hearing is that the Pima County policies, however they were enacted, appear to have been successful.

Arizona has had one of the highest COVID rates in the nation. But the most recent data shows the rate in Pima County is the state’s third lowest, after only Yavapai and Greenlee counties.

Hobbs, in her statement, took notice.

“Even with this mountain of expertise, and an immense track record of public health success, some lawmakers have decided that they should instead participate in vicious personal attacks and criticism,’’ the governor said. “This is not only foolish, it detracts from the important work we have in front of us.’’

What also was not mentioned is that Pima County was not alone in many of those actions taken in response to COVID. Doug Ducey, who was the Republican governor at the time, also issued executive orders shuttering certain businesses, closing schools and directing Arizonans to stay at home except for “essential activities.’’

Last week’s hearing also turned personal at times.

Hoffman accused Cullen of being “disingenuous’’ with some of her answers and flatly told her that he did not believe some of her responses.

That rhetoric continued Tuesday, with Hoffman saying the fact that Hobbs thinks Cullen is fit for a statewide public health role “proves how radical and out of touch Hobbs is with the people of Arizona.’’

Sen. Sine Kerr, R-Buckeye, who also was on the nomination panel, said her vote to oppose Cullen for state health chief was based on what her record at Pima County suggests would be the policies she would implement if she became the state health director.

“We’re bound to face another time where we do have another health crisis, medical crisis, some type of a pandemic,’’ Kerr said. “My greatest concern is that decisions that were made at the county level then would be duplicated and expanded at the state level.’’