Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs let illegitimate directors run Arizona's agencies, but the Maricopa County Superior Court will not rule on whether the directors’ actions are illegitimate, too.
As governor, Hobbs is required to pick agency leaders who must be confirmed by the state Senate. But, the Senate is controlled by Republicans who rejected or did not consider several of Hobbs’ nominees.
Rather than have the agency picks go through existing Senate committees, GOP leaders set up a committee strictly for the purpose of vetting the prospective nominees. The committee is headed by Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek).
After a few months, Hobbs relabeled her agency heads as “executive deputy directors” who served the same function as real directors, but circumvented the Senate confirmation process.
A court deemed that illegal.
Earlier this month, Hobbs’ attorneys came to an agreement with the Senate Republicans’ representation that would have superseded part of an earlier court order. That agreement would have included some provision that the agency heads’ actions have been legitimate, but the court rejected it.
On Tuesday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney issued a judgment following a settlement conference between the attorneys.
The new judgment does not rule on whether the actions taken by Hobbs’ executive deputy directors for the past several months are legitimate.
That opens the door to someone taking legal action challenging anything the agency heads have done.
“The final judgment in this case is a total and complete victory for the Nominations Committee, Arizona Senate, and the rule of law in our state,” Hoffman said in a text on Tuesday. “Katie has now fully admitted that she broke the law, and in doing so placed every action taken by her fake directors in legal jeopardy. She failed to nominate qualified, confirmable nominees that could garner the support of even the Senate majority’s more moderate members.”
Hoffman added that he looks forward to Hobbs sending better nominees.
Hobbs is in the process of re-submitting the names of her nominees for Senate consideration.
“Gov. Hobbs won critical stability and security for veterans, small businesses, and working families who rely on state agencies for important services. And we expect to have fair hearings moving forward, not the political circus of the past,” Hobbs’ communications director, Christian Slater, said in a text.
Slater noted that the nominees have a year from the time of their appointment the time they’re reappointed, and that no one has challenged the executive deputy directors’ actions so far.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The story has been updated to add comment from Gov. Katie Hobbs' communications director.
