PHOENIX β Gov. Katie Hobbs said Wednesday sheβs skeptical of finding a candidate to lead the state health department that would meet with the approval of Republican lawmakers.
The governorβs comments come a day after Pima County Health Director Theresa Cullen withdrew her name from consideration for the job. Despite the withdrawal, Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, insisted on taking a vote to formally reject the nomination, saying the Senate secretary had not be notified.
All that occurred after what amounted to a three-hour grilling of Cullen and criticism β and some derision of her β by Republican lawmakers about the decisions she made while Pimaβs health chief to deal with the COVID outbreak. That included not caring whether students lost out on learning opportunities and suffered depression because of school closures said Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, who chairs the Director Nominations Committee, He called Cullen βdisingenuousβ for claiming it was the county board of supervisors who made final decisions.
βWhat they did was beyond reproach,β Hobbs said of Cullenβs experience. βIt was inexcusable.β
What it also did is leave the agency with no permanent leader. Jennie Cunico, a deputy director of the agency, is the acting director.
Hobbs said no one else is currently being considered for the health post.
βWe are back to the drawing board,β Hobbs said.
Hobbs now turns her attention to finding another nominee, though she said getting someone else to agree to go through the legislative review process might not be easy.
βWhat Iβm worried about is the chilling effect that this is going to have on another qualified candidate coming forward and being willing to put themselves through this exercise,β Hobbs said.
And she laid the blame squarely at the feet of the Republicans.
βI donβt know that weβre going to find a qualified candidate thatβs going to meet whatever weird requirements this legislative committee and the Senate has,β the governor said.
Itβs not just the health department. Hobbs needs to get all of her other picks for agency chiefs confirmed by the Senate.
The Director Nominations Committee did vote last week to recommend approval of Angela Rodgers to head the Department of Economic Security. And Hobbs appeared gladdened by the fact that all of her nominees are not going to get rejected.
More to nominees to come
The panel is set to meet Monday to consider three more Hobbs picks: Jennifer Toth for the Department of Transportation; Karen Peters for the Department of Environmental Quality; and Elizabeth Thorson, to run the Department of Administration. Hobbs said her staff is working to help ensure the process is smoother for them.
βWe are certainly working with all of our nominees, making sure that they feel prepared β and that we are anticipating some of the garbage that might be thrown at them,β she said.
Still, Hobbs said sheβs not sure that Cullenβs nomination could have been salvaged, no matter what.
βI donβt think anything could have been done that would have prepared anyone for what they did to her,β the governor said, right down to questions Cullen was asked about a Twitter post she made three years earlier.
Hoffman was unapologetic for what Cullen was put through.
βWe did exactly what we said we would do, which was a thorough, factual and honest vetting,β he said.
That Hoffman said, included questioning her on the policies she recommended that the county board of supervisors and others which they adopted, including curfews, mask mandates and school closures.
βWhether or not she wants to stand by those policies is her decision,β he said of the nominee. βBut they were nonetheless the policies Dr. Cullen advocated.β
Hoffman acknowledged that some of those same policies actually were implemented by Doug Ducey when he was governor. He issued executive orders for people to remain at home except for βessentialβ travel, the closure of schools and recommendations for people to be vaccinated.
But Hoffman said that is irrelevant to the questioning of Cullen.
βThe Republican governor wasnβt up for confirmation to lead the Arizona Department of Health,β Hoffman said. βDr. Cullen was.β
Hobbs: GOP spending plan DOA
Separately, the governor made it clear that she is ready with her veto stamp to reject the $15.1 billion spending plan approved earlier this week by the Republican-controlled Legislature and sent to her desk on Wednesday. Hobbs said that should finally pave the way for negotiations with the GOP majority between what they want and the $17.1 billion budget she has proposed.
βI introduced my budget, they introduced theirs,β she said.
βThere was no discussion on this budget,β the governor continued. βThey werenβt interested.β
Rent tax measure faces veto
And Hobbs said another veto awaits a measure approved by both the House and Senate to end the ability of cities and towns to tax what renters pay their landlords.
Proponents say the measure would promote housing affordability. And the governor said she supports that goal.
βBut these are not savings that are going to be passed on to renters,ββ she said, echoing comments by Sen. Mitzi Epstein, D-Tempe, that landlords will simply raise the rent knowing thatβs what tenants are willing to pay.
Petersen disputed that, saying taxes are listed as a separate line item in leases. And there is a provision on the measure saying that by the end of this year landlords must reduce the rent equal to what they are saving by no longer have to pay in local taxes.
