PHOENIX — The state Senate staffer who says discrimination led to her firing by Katie Hobbs in 2015 is taking the first step toward suing her.
Talonya Adams said Thursday she will file a formal notice of claim on Friday that Hobbs, through her statements and implications, has deliberately given people the impression Adams is incompetent. Hobbs was Senate minority leader when Adams was fired. Hobbs is now secretary of state and is running for governor in the 2022 Democratic primary.
Talonya Adams
Adams held a press conference Thursday on the patio of the federal courthouse, where a jury last month awarded her $2.75 million in damages in her previous lawsuit against the Senate, in which Hobbs was not named as a defendant. The jury found Adams, who is Black, was subject to racial and gender discrimination, as well as retaliation for complaining about her salary being less than white male staffers with similar backgrounds.
That reward, as required by federal law, was reduced to a maximum of $300,000. Now Adams hopes to get a separate jury, this time in state court, to conclude statements Hobbs has made were knowingly false.
She said Hobbs continues to assert she was fired for legitimate reasons.
Adams also took the opportunity to argue that Hobbs is unfit to be governor. She also contended that, using a dictionary definition, Hobbs is racist.
Hobbs declined to comment.
Separately Thursday, state Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales, D-Tucson, lashed out at other leaders in the Democratic Party for not being more critical of Hobbs.
Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales
Gonzales said the latest apology video posted by Hobbs on Wednesday fell short of acknowledging her role in the firing and instead was designed more to try to undo damage to her political future.
The senator also said she will propose legislation in the upcoming session, which starts in January, designed to preclude the kind of discrimination that resulted in Adams being fired and having to sue to get her job back. But she said she does not yet have details to release.
Adams’ notice of claim is a formal precursor to filing suit against the government and any of its employees or agents.
“She is not fit to serve, not as the governor of the state of Arizona and not as the secretary of state,’’ Adams said.
Adams had been a policy adviser for Senate Democrats when she was fired in February 2015 shortly after Hobbs became Senate minority leader.
Hobbs testified at the federal court trial that she had “lost confidence’’ in Adams and that Adams, in going to Washington state to be with her son who was in the hospital, had abandoned her job.
Katie Hobbs
Wendy Baldo, who was chief of staff at the time, testified that the decision to fire Adams was up to Hobbs.
Prior to this week, Hobbs declined to acknowledge her role in the firing despite mounting criticism. On Wednesday, she released the video apologizing to Adams and saying she was “truly sorry for the real harm I caused Ms. Adams and her family.’’
Adams was not impressed. “Her response is a response to a political crisis,’’ she said. “It is not a response to racism. Her statement is not an apology.’’
Adams, who got her job back at the Senate as part of the federal court case, said she has struggled for some time with the question of whether Hobbs is a racist. So she looked up the definition, saying it is defined in a dictionary as “prejudice, discrimination or antagonism directed against someone of a different race, based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.’’
“Yes, she is,’’ Adams concluded.
What’s next, she said, is holding Hobbs accountable for her statements.
Hobbs cannot be sued for statements she made as part of the federal court lawsuit. Those are protected. But Adams said Hobbs can be held liable for statements she has made to others, outside of court.
Most notably, Adams said Hobbs claimed one reason for the firing was that she had not been doing her job properly.
But the state never made such a claim in defending against her lawsuit, Adams said. In fact, court records show that attorneys for the state admitted Adams never got a performance evaluation during her employment and that she had no record of discipline.
Adams, who is an attorney, said that Hobbs, in making such statements questioning her professional competence, has damaged her reputation.
By law, the state has 60 days after the notice of claim to either settle the case or reject it. At that point Adams is free to file suit.
Much of the pretrial activity, from various pleadings and motions to taking depositions from witnesses, would occur in the months leading up to the August primary election and the November general election.
Gonzales, who sat through the recent trial, is raising her own issues.
“I find it heartbreaking that no other Democratic senator has taken a public stand,’’ she said. “We either stand against racism, discrimination, retaliation ... or we don’t.’’
Sen. Rebecca Rios, a Phoenix Democrat and the current Senate minority leader, said that’s not necessarily for her to say, however.
“At the end of the day, this is going to be a choice for the voters to make,’’ Rios said. Still, she said Hobbs now needs to make her case.
“She has a lot to prove,’’ Rios said.
“She has a lot of making up to do to not only the African American community but Arizonans in general that are now grappling with the question, ‘Is this indicative of this person’s personality or beliefs?’ ‘’ Rios continued. “And that, ultimately, is going to boil down to a decision that the voters make.’’
Rios pointed out that Hobbs, in her latest apology, promised to hire more minority staffers for her campaign and vowed to take actions if elected governor to ensure the rights of minorities are protected.
“It’s ultimately going to depend on where she goes from here,’’ Rios said. “Is she going to implement and do everything she promised in that video?’’
