New Arizona child safety director forced to quit, fueling Hobbs' critics

PHOENIX — The director of the Department of Child Safety, newly appointed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, has been forced to resign.

And the head of a special panel that reviews gubernatorial nominees is using that fact to justify his intense questioning and investigations into all of Hobbs’ picks.

“Sadly, it seems clear that Hobbs is not conducting her own vetting process,’’ Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, said in a prepared statement. “So my colleagues and I will continue to serve as the necessary and constitutional check and balance on the executive branch that the citizens of our great state need and deserve.’’

Hoffman, who chairs the Senate Committee on Director Nominations, said there were “troubling events’’ since Hobbs named Matthew Stewart to direct DCS in December.

He said those included “questionable moves on consulting contracts’’ and the firing of gay DCS employees, whom he said have filed complaints against Stewart “which prompted the forced resignation.’’

The governor would not comment Thursday other than to stick to a prepared statement of her own that it was “a decision that was made for the best interests of all parties involved.’’

She brushed aside questions of whether her staff had not properly vetted Stewart before she nominated him.

“This just wasn’t the right fit,’’ Hobbs said. “And as the governor and a social worker, I take the direction of the agency very seriously. “It’s charged with protection of the vulnerable populations.”

A press aide to Hobbs said she had no contact information for Stewart.

A representative of Our Sister Our Brother, a nonprofit Stewart founded to assist with the safe reunification of children in foster care with their families, said she would pass along Capitol Media Services’ request to speak with him. There was no immediate response.

The Arizona Republic did reach Stewart on Thursday and he declined to comment.

“I imagine I’ll have a statement (at some time),” Stewart said.

Hobbs claims ‘political theater’

Hobbs lashed out at the Republican majority on the committee, which already rejected her nomination of Pima County Health Director Theresa Cullen to head the Arizona Department of Health Services; refused to hold a vote on Elizabeth Ann Thorson for the Department of Administration; and tabled Hobbs’ choice of Karen Peters for the Department of Environmental Quality.

“The committee has made it very clear that they’re not interested in seriously vetting my nominations,’’ Hobbs said. “They’re interested in carrying out their personal vendetta against me and using my nominees as proxy to do that.’’

Hobbs had particularly harsh words for Hoffman.

“I don’t think fake elector Jake Hoffman is interested in good government at all,’’ she said.

She was referring to the fact that Hoffman was on a list of 11 names sent by the Arizona Republican Party to Congress as “electors” pledged to vote for Donald Trump after the 2020 election, despite Joe Biden winning the state’s popular vote and being entitled to the state’s 11 official electors.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“He’s interested in creating a stage for his political theater,’’ Hobbs said of Hoffman.

Hobbs said all of her nominees were selected by a “bipartisan transition committee that was focused on how to create the best government possible.’’

“What these folks are doing in the Senate is serving to potentially grind government to a halt,’’ she said.

Public records requested

There also was no immediate response to public records requests seeking information about Stewart from either DCS or the Department of Administration, which handles personnel matters for the state.

The requests covered any actions taken by Stewart since he was named director, as well as what Hoffman said was Stewart’s resignation from the agency in 2020 as its training operations supervisor after he received a letter of reprimand for “insubordination and unauthorized absence.’’

In tapping Stewart, Hobbs cited his experience as a former child safety specialist with DCS. She said he became the training manager and helped launch the department’s African-American Disparity Committee, formed to reduce the disproportionately large share of Black and minority families in the DCS system.

Hobbs said Michael Wisehart, who was director of the Department of Economic Security, will be interim director of DCS until she names a replacement.

Increasingly contentious process

The dust-up over Stewart underscores an increasingly contentious confirmation process.

Prior to this year, gubernatorial nominees were screened by existing Senate committees with expertise in each area. So a pick for director of the Department of Health Services would go before the Senate Health Committee, for instance.

The Republican-controlled Legislature changed that this year upon having to deal with the first Democratic governor since 2009. Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, named Hoffman to head a panel of three Republicans and two Democrats.

The committee, on a 3-2 partisan vote earlier this month, rejected Hobbs’ nomination of Cullen to head the health department, with Hoffman accusing her of lying and having an “air of supremacy’’ in enacting regulations during the COVID pandemic.

Hobbs formally withdrew the nomination as the full Senate, acting on the committee’s recommendation, voted along party lines to refuse to confirm Cullen.

More recently, Hoffman refused to allow a vote on the nomination of Thorson to head the Department of Administration, even though she had been its deputy director under Republican Gov. Doug Ducey. That lack of action does not remove her from office, as Thorson is able to serve up to a year without being confirmed.

Hoffman has tabled the governor’s nomination of Peters, now a deputy Phoenix city manager, to head DEQ, saying there was “some concerning information that we’ve become aware of,’’ without providing specifics.

Hoffman heads the Arizona Freedom Caucus, a group of senators and representatives openly hostile to much of what Hobbs has proposed since taking office at the beginning of the year.