After years of back-and-forth drama, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced in May that she would not submit any more agency director nominations to the state Senate for confirmation. She blamed what she called the “circus” environment for vetting her nominees.
“I’m quite frankly done with Jake Hoffman and his agenda,” the governor said in early May. “We’re going to move forward in the best way possible in the current environment.”
This came after two directors of the state’s health care agencies stepped down, saying it was clear they would not be confirmed. Hobbs has been battling the state Senate since she took office for her director nominees, who have gone through a rigorous and unprecedented vetting process.
Because of this, for the majority of her time in office, the agency heads tasked with implementing her agenda have operated on an interim basis.
State Sen. Jake Hoffman heads the Committee on Direction Nominations, which recommends whether a nominee should get a vote of the full Senate. He self-identified on The Gaggle as “one of the most conservative members of the Legislature.”
The Queen Creek Republican is also one of the people indicted in the fake electors case, which charges the electors who broke the law by attempting to falsely certify Donald Trump as Arizona’s choice for president in 2020.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Sen. Hoffman to discuss why he thinks the stiff scrutiny on the governor’s picks is justified.
Later in the episode, Doug Cole, a Republican veteran of state government who knows the process of nominating and selling Cabinet seats to lawmakers, joins to explore this unheard-of situation between the sitting governor and the leader of the Senate committee.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Inside Arizona’s standoff: Hobbs vs. Hoffman over director nominees
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