Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs stepped down temporarily as controversy rages about some of her nominees awaiting state Senate confirmation. The governor’s position fell for a short time to Arizona’s Republican treasurer, Kimberly Yee, who has refused to acknowledge the authority of two top directors appointed by the Democrat governor, saying the legal status of the employees as agency bosses was unclear.
“This absence of a lawfully appointed director to serve from these two agencies create legal uncertainty,” Ms. Yee said.
“It really does jeopardize the proceedings of the State Board of Investment and will continue to do so until the governor reinstalls legitimate directors into these positions.”
“For months, Extremists in the Senate have used the committee to pursue their radical political agenda rather than giving cabinet nominees a fair hearing. Now, I’m putting an end to his political circus that holds Arizona agencies hostage and wastes taxpayer dollars.
Ms. Hobbs chose to withdraw her nominations instead from the Senate’s Committee on Director Nominations and gave the new title of “executive deputy director” to the 13 nominees. This was meant to allow them to skip Senate confirmations and continue with work as official agency directors.
Ms. Yee, according to AZ Central, consulted with lawyers after learning that Hobbs’ was “blatantly circumventing the law” by rejecting the confirmation process, and they told her “we could not legally recognize these individuals in the open meeting” of the Board of Investment.
The nominees may legally serve without confirmation for up to one year. But because Hobbs withdrew the nominees from any Senate confirmation process, there was no longer a record of a process that would enable these directors to serve for a year without Senate confirmation, even as unconfirmed interim directors, according to Ms. Yee.
This action is due to a short absence from Gov. Katie Hobbs. The acting governor stated that she was “pleased to step into this role.”
During her less than 24 hours as acting governor, the Republican state treasurer stated that she would wait for the Democratic governor to complete the vacancies in the 13 agencies until she returned.
“While I am pleased to step in this role, I will refrain from naming directors to the 13 agencies that currently have vacancies and will not call the Arizona Legislature into session to confirm them,” Yee said in an X post.
“That being said, I do hope when the Governor returns to Arizona, she will promptly name qualified directors to these important state agencies.”
“I expect to see a quick resolution on this matter, so we can get the work done for Arizona taxpayers,” Yee added.
Because the state has no lieutenant governor, and given the absence of the state’s attorney general and secretary of state, the responsibility fell to Yee.
