by Jonathan Eberle | Jun 3, 2025 | News
By Jonathan Eberle |
Governor Katie Hobbs has withdrawn her nominee to the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council (GRRC) after the appointee, Jenny Domingo, was revealed to be unavailable to fulfill her duties for several months. The decision came just hours before a scheduled Senate confirmation hearing, prompting criticism from Republican lawmakers.
According to Senate Government Committee Chairman Jake Hoffman, Domingo left the country in April and is not expected to return until September. During that time, GRRC is scheduled to hold 12 meetings to review regulatory actions proposed by various state agencies. Hoffman expressed strong concerns about the nominee’s extended absence and questioned the administration’s vetting process.
“I am completely dumbfounded why the highest elected official in the State of Arizona would nominate an individual who would rather prioritize her vacation schedule… than her important role of service to the citizens of Arizona,” Hoffman said in a press release Wednesday. “Katie Hobbs should find someone dedicated to the post – or at least willing to show up.”
Appointed in October 2024, Domingo was slated to serve on the GRRC, a body tasked with ensuring that new and existing regulations are necessary, legally sound, and do not impose undue burdens on the public. The council is a final checkpoint for many agency rules and plays a key role in shaping the state’s regulatory environment.
While Governor Hobbs’ office has not issued a public statement regarding the withdrawal, the move has sparked renewed partisan tensions over appointments and administrative oversight. Republicans argue that the situation reflects broader issues with Hobbs’ approach to governance.
As of now, it remains unclear who Hobbs will nominate to replace Domingo on the council. GRRC’s upcoming agenda includes regulatory reviews that could affect multiple sectors, from occupational licensing to construction and consumer goods.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jun 3, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
For the third year in a row, the Arizona governor made a bold statement for Pride Month.
Governor Katie Hobbs again raised the Pride flag stories above the American flags on the Executive Tower on Monday in recognition of Pride Month. Hobbs pledged her loyalty to advancing and protecting LGBTQ+ ideologies.
“I’m proud to fly the Pride banner from the Executive Tower in celebration of Pride Month,” said Hobbs. “I will always stand for the freedom of Arizonans to be who they are, love who they love, and live with dignity and without fear.”
These flags are technically an expansion of the original rainbow-based Pride flag because they include the colors light pink, light blue, and white to represent transgenderism as well as black and brown to represent people with brown or black skin tones.
Pride Month was first officially recognized by the federal government in 1999 under President Bill Clinton, initially called “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.” Then, in 2011, President Barack Obama expanded Pride Month recognition into what it consists of today.
During his first term in 2017, President Donald Trump didn’t offer federal recognition of Pride Month.
However, the first Pride Parade in Arizona took place in Phoenix in 1981 — about a decade after the first pride marches occurred in response to the 1970 Stonewall Riots in New York. The riots erupted following a police raid on a gay bar in Manhattan and lasted nearly a week.
Hobbs has continued her commitment to Pride Month despite the growing reluctance of other major cultural players to continue doing so. A frequent supporter of LGBTQ+ ideologies, Google, announced earlier this year it would no longer highlight Pride Month by default on Google Calendar. The corporation said the continued recognition of Pride Month wasn’t “scalable or sustainable,” citing the burden of recognizing the ever-increasing number of “cultural moments” globally.
Hobbs has flown the Pride flags above the American flags every summer since taking office.
During last summer’s Pride Month, Hobbs vetoed legislation guaranteeing equality of care for gender transition reversals, dubbed the “Detransitioner Bill of Rights.” This year, Hobbs vetoed bills limiting school locker room usage by gender, barring gender changes on birth certificates, preventing any funding to higher education institutes teaching students about gender identity, and precluding legal recognition of gender transitions.
During her first Pride Month as governor, Hobbs used an Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) drone to film the Pride flags. Reporting on the matter was delayed until the following year because it took the governor’s office nine months to respond to public records requests.
As reported initially, ADOT drone usage is intended for inspections and surveys of work concerning state infrastructure.
Hobbs also used state time to hold several ceremonies to watch the unfurling of the flags from the balcony and then admire the flags from the ground below, followed by an hour-long “Pride Roundtable” with those same guests.
Hobbs’ first executive order expanded discrimination protections to include prohibitions against “gender identity” discrimination in state employment and contracts.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Jun 2, 2025 | Economy, News
By Matthew Holloway |
The Phillips 66 Los Angeles Oil Refinery, in operation for 102 years, is set to shut down in October and will leave California with a dwindling network of just eight refineries remaining. The closure places the already fragile supply lines of gasoline and diesel fuel for California, Arizona, and Nevada in question.
All three states utilize California’s Low Carbon Fuel standard for fuel known as California Reformulated Gasoline (CaRFG), which is 90% petroleum-based gasoline and 10% ethanol, ostensibly designed to reduce air pollution and decrease emissions of smog-forming toxins. The closure is expected to have a wide impact across the region on prices for gasoline, diesel, and even aviation fuels.
The Phillips 66 refinery accounts for approximately 8.57% of California’s overall refinery capacity. The closure, announced last year, drew bipartisan pleas from Arizona and Nevada’s governors to California’s Governor Gavin Newsom who asked him not to authorize new legislation that allows California to demand more fuel be held in-state for California’s needs, regardless of outside demand.
Arizona’s Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs and Nevada’ Republican Governor Joe Lombardo said in a joint statement, “It is evident that increased regulatory burdens on refiners and forced supply shortages will result in higher costs for consumers in all of our states. With both of our states reliant on California pipelines for significant amounts of our fuel, these looming cost increases and supply shortages are of tremendous concern to Arizona and Nevada.”
According to OANN, a spokesman for Newsom told the outlet that the California law will “prevent price spikes that cost Californians upwards of $2 billion last year, giving the state more tools to require that petroleum refiners backfill supplies and plan ahead of maintenance.” Although he reassured Californians at the time that “the state has the tools to make sure they backfill supplies and plan ahead for maintenance,” he made no such reassurance to Arizona or Nevada.
California Republican Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez warned in a post to X, “Expect CA gas prices to skyrocket and more refineries to shut down as Sacramento Democrats double down on their agenda to exterminate affordability and make a middle-class life impossible to achieve for millions.”
Newsom accused Hobbs and Lombardo of repeating Big Oil talking points, saying their concerns reflected “the oil industry’s talking points rather than the facts.” He claimed that the California Energy Commission will be able to dampen price spikes and supply shortages with a spokesman calling their letter a “stunt” to appease “Big Oil Donors.”
Newsom signed the bill over the objections of both neighboring governors.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Staff Reporter | Jun 1, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona Democratic Party (ADP) will go broke by the end of this year, according to the party’s own leadership.
News of the party’s financial woes emerged after ADP’s executive committee rejected a budget from the party’s new chairman, Robert Branscomb, in a recent meeting per Arizona Republic reporter Mary Jo Pitzl.
ADP’s committee reportedly cited the current state of spending and low fundraising for the diminishing funds.
This new development emerged shortly after Branscomb suspended his vice chair, Kim Khoury, through email. Branscomb accused Khoury of working against him — accusations he’s leveled against others early on in his leadership.
“[You engaged] in political activity directed against party leadership while holding an executive officer role,” said Branscomb.
And in recent months, there were reports of infighting between party leadership and the state’s top elected Democrats.
In a tell-all email issued last month, Branscomb provided a 90-day “candidate update” in which he accused his predecessor, Yolanda Bejarano, of undermining him and both U.S. Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego of threatening him over his decision making. Kelly and Gallego were supportive of Bejarano’s reelection, as were Governor Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, and Attorney General Kris Mayes.
In a joint response to the accusations, Fontes, Gallego, Hobbs, Kelly, and Mayes said they had only sought to support Branscomb from the beginning.
“We’ve spent the last several months meeting regularly with the chair and working to support the party through the transition,” read the statement. “Unfortunately, his statement today includes many false claims and is the kind of bad-faith response we’ve come to expect from the new leadership over the last several weeks.”
ADP is facing financial struggles despite the millions in heavy outside spending given as assistance in key state legislative races across the state last fall — expenditures that surpassed the more successful Republicans, even.
In January, ADP faced accusations of financial wrongdoing from one of the ADP vice chairs at the time, Will Knight. The former treasurer, Rick McGuire, was accused of “self-dealing.” Bejarano denied Knight’s request for an audit of the party’s finances, and denounced the accusations as “defamatory” and “false and damaging.”
ADP’s troubles are consistent with the issues facing the national Democratic Party. Although Democrats outraised and outspent Republicans in last year’s election, they gained only one seat in the House and lost four seats in the Senate — resulting in a Republican control of the Senate that reflected the most gains for either party in a decade.
Major donors to the Democratic Party vented their frustrations to mainstream media this week.
“Why would I write a check when we’re losing everything? We’re losing the airwaves. We’re losing the tech battle. We’re losing the ground game. They have yet to prove that they have learned any real lessons yet,” said one donor anonymously. “So either people start to wake up or we lose again.”
A survey in March of Democratic voters by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found only one-third felt optimistic about the party’s future.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Jonathan Eberle | May 24, 2025 | News
By Jonathan Eberle |
On Thursday, Arizona State Representative Alexander Kolodin (R-LD3) accused Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes of improperly delegating state powers to a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization. The accusation raises concerns about transparency and potential conflicts of interest in the administration of state business.
According to documents Kolodin says he obtained through a months-long investigation, both Hobbs and Mayes engaged in undisclosed agreements with the States United Democracy Center, a nonprofit organization focused on protecting elections and democratic norms. Kolodin alleged that the group holds connections to progressive donors and political agendas.
The materials released by Kolodin indicate that Hobbs, during her tenure as Secretary of State, contracted with States United on three separate occasions to provide assistance in managing her office. One such arrangement was reportedly renewed shortly after Hobbs assumed the governorship. Kolodin contends that while these services were presented as being provided at no cost to the state, States United simultaneously received permission to advocate in regulatory and legal proceedings against Arizona’s interests—even while advising top state officials.
The report also includes allegations that the group was allowed to delete public records, potentially in violation of state law. Kolodin claims that the organization’s acknowledgment of this risk was disregarded by AG Mayes, who publicly denied any wrongdoing. The Attorney General’s office, according to Kolodin, has yet to release additional documents tied to its interactions with States United.
“Governor Hobbs and Attorney General Mayes have betrayed Arizonans by allowing radical, dark-money activists to infiltrate and weaponize Arizona’s government,” said Kolodin in a statement. “This corrupt collusion must be exposed. The people deserve answers, transparency, and immediate accountability.”
The allegations are likely to intensify tensions in the state, where debates over election integrity and government transparency have remained prominent in recent years. Representative Kolodin, a Republican, serves in the Arizona House of Representatives and has been a vocal critic of Governor Hobbs’ agenda.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
