by Daniel Stefanski | Sep 28, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
The fallout continues from the Arizona Governor’s decision to withdraw her remaining agency nominees for Senate confirmation.
On Monday, Senate President Warren Petersen highlighted an email from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) regarding his chamber’s confirmation process. The communication to all ADEQ staff was from Karen Peters, who was previously nominated to serve as the Department’s Director.
In her message, Peters shared that “Governor Hobbs is taking actions today to keep her chosen agency leaders in place, as the state Senate has not acted on many of her cabinet appointments. As of this morning, I am reassigned into an Executive Deputy Director position, not subject to Senate confirmation, and serve as the Cabinet Executive Officer (CEO) to lead the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.”
Petersen erupted at the intercepted transmission, writing, “Very disturbing to see that the governor and director of ADEQ blatantly and openly attempting to circumvent the law. Dark day for Arizona.”
Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee also weighed in on the governor’s shocking action. During Tuesday’s State Board of Investment meeting, Yee revealed that she “did not recognize employees from the Arizona Department of Administration or the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions as legally participating members due to the recent actions of the Governor.” The Republican Treasurer added, “Yesterday’s decision by the Governor to pull the nominations of these cabinet-level positions has created chaos and confusion that is contrary to the orderly administration of government business. The absence of lawfully appointed directors of these two agencies creates legal uncertainty and jeopardizes the proceedings of the State Board of Investment.”
The Senate President agreed with Yee’s assessment of the situation at hand, stating, “Treasurer Yee is correct. The Governor has appointed 13 Fake Directors. They are illegitimate and should not be recognized as credible.”
Petersen also noted his chamber “approved 70 percent of her nominees” – a sign that the Senate was moving in good faith to complete its constitutional responsibilities.
However, Petersen warned that the Senate’s confirmation process was “not a rubber stamp” for nominees sent from the Governor’s Office. He asserted that “Vetting is imperative to protect AZs citizens. The founders set up a system of checks and balances for this purpose. Further there was no need to rush her new Fake Director appointments because all of her prior nominees could serve for 1 year without and prior to confirmation.”
The final straw for the Hobbs’ administration appears to have taken place last week, when the Senate’s Committee on Director Nominations voted, along party lines, to recommend a ‘no’ vote on the executive appointment for the Director of the Arizona Department of Housing, Joan Serviss.
In a press release announcing the result of the committee’s vote, the Senate Republican Caucus shared that “during questioning of Serviss, troubling information came to light regarding a history of repeated and seemingly pervasive plagiarism while serving as Executive Director with the Arizona Housing Coalition. The Caucus added, “Over a period of about four and a half years, an alarming number of individual statements were documented as written by other groups, but presented by Ms. Serviss as her own original works,” and “under her leadership, both government entities and the public were misled, threatening the credibility of this organization.”
However, Senate Democrats were outraged by the committee’s rejection of Serviss. Two Senators, Lela Alston and Flavio Bravo, quickly issued a press release, condemning the action. Alston said, “I have sat in more legislative committees than I would like to admit, but I have never seen worse behavior than that which was displayed by Senator Hoffman today. Director Serviss is broadly supported by veterans, housing experts, community members, and those in the advocacy community for this role.” Bravo added, “The accusations Republicans chose to throw were not that of a legislative official who should easily be able to distinguish the difference between an advocacy letter and an academic paper…He (Hoffman) put his own personal disagreements with Governor Hobbs above the dire needs of Arizonans in urgent need of housing.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Sep 26, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A year-long political feud over Arizona’s agency nominees has just entered uncharted territory.
On Monday, Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs sent a letter to Republican Senate President Warren Petersen, informing him that she would “withdraw all director nominations that remain pending before the Senate and pursue other lawful avenues of ensuring State government can continue to function for Arizonans.”
The governor blamed Senate Republicans for not “fulfilling (their) statutory obligations in good faith,” adding that they have proven themselves “unable or unwilling to carry out a valid process for confirming nominees.” She specifically attacked the “complete lack of fitness” of chairman of the Committee on Director Nominations, Jake Hoffman; and she accused him of “disrespectful behavior” and attempts to “leverage the confirmation” of qualified nominees.
Senate Republicans were quick to respond to the governor’s action. President Warren Petersen issued a statement, saying, “This move by the Executive Branch showcases another prime example of an elected official who believes they’re above the law and will go to extreme measures to bypass the requirements of the law when they don’t get their way. The law is very specific on who is to run our state agencies. Without directors fulfilling these obligations, the legality of every decision made by these state agencies is dubious, and litigation against the state would surely prevail.”
Petersen promised Arizonans that the process for vetting and confirming Hobbs’ nominees was, in fact, working and that legislators would be awaiting a new list of appointments from the state’s chief executive. He said, “Our members of the Committee on Director Nominations will continue to be professional and stand ready to resume the confirmation hearings created to critically vet her appointments in order to protect the people of Arizona from government overreach and tyranny from unelected bureaucrats. The process is working. Because of the committee’s thorough vetting, we have been able to recommend several directors for appointment and have also rejected those who proved they were not competent to serve. We are prepared to receive a new list of nominations. If they are competent and not hyper-partisan, they will have no problem getting confirmed.”
The primary target of the governor’s outrage, Senator Jake Hoffman, also released a statement to respond to the new developments. Hoffman stated, “With this latest stunt, Katie Hobbs has doubled down on her commitment to weaponizing the government of Arizona to enact her extreme far-left agenda. The people of our state deserve highly qualified, non-partisan individuals to lead these agencies, instead Hobbs has chosen to nominate partisans and ideologues. Hobbs is the only person to blame for her nominees struggling to succeed under actual due diligence. She should have done her homework prior to making her nominations, yet she chose not to and is now attempting to blame everyone else except herself for her failures.”
The East Valley legislator added, “If the Governor wishes to limit her own authority by foregoing rulemaking and other director-required activities in the absence of confirmed directors, we certainly welcome this limitation of her power. Hobbs has made it abundantly clear that she has no intention of working constructively with the Legislature the voters gave her. Instead, she’s choosing to throw petulant temper tantrums when she doesn’t get her way. The only ones who stand to lose in the wake of her childish games are the citizens of Arizona. I’m incredibly disappointed, but I’m certainly not surprised.”
According to the Governor’s Office, the following nominees were withdrawn and reassigned as Executive Deputy Directors of their respective agencies:
- Elizabeth Thorson, Arizona Department of Administration
- Angie Rodgers, Arizona Department of Economic Security
- Karen Peters, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
- Carmen Heredia, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System
- David Lujan, Arizona Department of Child Safety
- Jackie Johnson, Arizona Department of Gaming
- Joan Serviss, Arizona Department of Housing
- Barbara Richardson, Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions
- Lt. Col Dana Allmond, Arizona Department of Veterans Services
- Alec Esteban Thomson, Arizona State Lottery
- Cynthia Zwick, Residential Utility Consumer Office
- Lisa Urias, Arizona Office of Tourism
- Robyn Sahid, Arizona State Land Department
Hobbs’ release also noted that at the Committee’s current pace, Hoffman’s Senate Committee would “be holding nomination hearings well into (her) second term” – a comment (and a bold prediction) that is certain to intensify the political fires between the Governor’s Office and Legislative Republicans as they prepare to enter the second year of a very divided government.
The Arizona Senate Democrats Caucus sided with the governor, writing, “Jake Hoffman hijacked the Director Confirmation process for his own extremist agenda against abortion access. This waste of taxpayer dollars & time desperately needed to end. Arizonans can be confident that their government is running with sound and stable leadership.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Sep 24, 2023 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
The weather outside may be cooling in Arizona, but the political heat between the state’s governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction continues to rise.
Last week, Republican Superintendent Tom Horne fired back a response to Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs over his administration’s handling of Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS) funds. Horne’s communication followed a letter from Hobbs from the week before.
In the initial letter to Horne, Hobbs accused the state’s schools chief of refusing “to follow federal law and transfer unobligated EANS funds from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act or cooperate with the Hobbs administration to assist in the disbursement.” The Governor’s Office alleged that “if funds are not obligated by September 30, 2023, Arizona schools will lose nearly $6 million that will be forfeited to the federal government alongside an additional $22 million in September 2024.”
Hobbs said, “For months, Superintendent Horne has played political games while my administration has fought to deliver millions of dollars of funding to Arizona schools. This must end. Horne needs to put his partisan politics aside and do what’s right for the education of Arizona’s children. By not following federal law, Horne is sending a clear message that he believes his politics are more important than giving every Arizona student the education they need to thrive. It’s a gross dereliction of duty and it needs to come to an end, immediately.”
The superintendent didn’t see the situation through the same lenses employed by the governor, informing Hobbs that “Section B-5 of the United States Department of Education’s official guidance for the EANS funds states: ‘By accepting an EANS award from the Department, a Governor automatically designates the SEA (State Education Agency, in this case the Arizona Department of Education) to administer the EANS program. The SEA will be the payee or fiscal agent in G5 for purposes of accessing Federal funds on the date of award.”
Horne revealed that his office had been in contact with the Governor’s team since April 2023 “to collaborate on the best way to ensure these monies are spent in accordance with the law and to avoid reversion of funds to the federal government.” The Republican shared that his June 12th proposal was rejected by Hobbs because of her assertion that “it was in violation of federal law.” Horne argued that his office was “following the guidance” from the U.S. Department of Education in delivering a proposal that made the Arizona Department of Education the designated fiscal agent, and that under his proposal, the governor “would have had decision-making power for the $22 million of undisbursed money.”
Superintendent Horne challenged Hobbs to prove that her stipulation was legal, adding, “If you produce something in writing from the federal government that says that your proposal will be acceptable to them, we will gladly agree to it. In that case, it will be your responsibility to administer the program, and we can wash our hands of it. Alternatively, you can still accept our proposal to make the transaction legal and you will still have decision-making power over the $22 million.”
According to the governor, though, her Office has already received some sort of an endorsement of her proposal from the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), claiming that “USDOE agreed with our interpretation of federal law and, accordingly, has reverted all EANS funds to our control in the federal grant management system.” Hobbs pointed to a suggestion by USDOE as the path forward to resolving this conflict, which would be “a simple written agreement between our Offices that will enable OSPB to disburse funds to ADE for disbursement to its non-public school grantees.”
Horne ended his letter to Hobbs by expressing dismay over how this situation has deteriorated between the two offices, stating, “There is no reason that a meeting between our staffs could not have worked this out. There is no earthly reason for you to have publicized a personal attack on me over this technical issue that could have been resolved by a meeting of our staffs.”
Last week’s communication from Horne was his second over EANS funds in the past two weeks. After receiving the governor’s letter, Horne issued a lengthy statement to quickly set the record straight. In that statement, Horne said, “Due to her own actions, the governor now needs to take care of this problem, and not pass the buck to the Department of Education inasmuch as she arranged for the federal government to change the fiscal agent from the Department of Education to the governor. The governor arranged with the federal government to be the fiscal agent for this program for private schools. The Arizona Department of Education has no ability to pay anyone for work done, or to authorize further work, because the governor has now become the fiscal agent.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Sep 18, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
The 2023 Super Bowl may be long over, but political fallout is continuing into the start of the next football season.
On Thursday night, veteran Arizona reporter Dennis Welch and one of his colleagues released a story that “according to public records, the Arizona Office of Tourism gifted the Governor’s Office twelve tickets (to the Super Bowl)” and that “members of Hobbs’ staff used the remaining half dozen… worth tens of thousands of dollars.”
Two of the six Hobbs’ staffers who reportedly received tickets to the Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona are no longer with the office, having departed earlier this year.
The Arizona’s Family journalists shared the existence of A.R.S. 41-1232.08, which bars “elected officials and public servants from accepting (the free tickets).” The statute reads, “A state officer or state employee shall not accept an expenditure or single expenditure for entertainment from a principal, designated lobbyist, authorized lobbyist, lobbyist for compensation, public body, designated public lobbyist or authorized public lobbyist or any other person acting on that person’s behalf.”
Republican legislators were quick to react to the breaking news, The Arizona Freedom Caucus posted, “Corruption in Governor Hobbs’ administration! Katie Hobbs’ staff accepted free Super Bowl tickets estimated to cost $7,000 per ticket. AZ has laws that make it ILLEGAL for Public Servants and Elected Officials to accept gifts over $25.00 in value. This is flat out corruption.”
Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope wrote, “I purchased my nosebleed seats and these folks go for free in I’m sure way better seats than what I paid for? Cool scam for them eh Dennis Welch? Rules for thee and none for me is the mantra of the Governor Hobbs’ Administration I suppose…”
Freshman Representative Cory McGarr opined, “I’m sure we will see a full Hunter Biden investigation. Nothing to see here.”
Shope also responded to an account that had attempted to argue that the Governor’s Office reported actions were “perks of being in a high office,” saying, “Huh breaking the law is NOT ‘one of the perks’ of being in high office, nor should it be. Why would I want to break the law when I can pay for them honestly. I’m sure that’s difficult to understand for some but being ethical is something three generations of elected Shope’s have had in common. These are the people educating your kids folks…people who think people in high office have a right to break the law.”
In their report, the journalists revealed that “the previous Governor, Doug Ducey, received twenty tickets to the 2015 Super Bowl in Glendale,” and that they were told “Ducey paid face value for his ticket and distributed the remaining tickets to veterans groups.” The journalists added that “at the time, Ducey prohibited his staff from taking free tickets over concerns it was against the law.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Sep 16, 2023 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes appears to be in a tug-of-war with Governor Katie Hobbs to determine who is worse at their job. It’s been well-documented that since she took office, Hobbs has been off to a rough start with high-profile staff exits, breaking the veto record after killing the bipartisan “Tamale Bill,” and alienating many Democrats by signing the Republican budget. But over the past eight months, Fontes has been working just as hard in the battle to see who’s more incompetent. Not only has he failed to perform the necessary voter list maintenance—leaving 14 Arizona counties in violation of Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act—but he rushed through a version of the Elections Procedures Manual (EPM) that is filled with unlawful provisions.
Now, Secretary of State Fontes has been dealt another major blow after a superior court judge ruled against him…
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