The Arizona State Senate and Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) took legal action against Governor Katie Hobbs (D) on Tuesday. The governor faces legal action for her attempt to bypass the normal Senate confirmation process for the directors of Arizona’s state agencies, which she started after one of her nominees was rejected for alleged plagiarism.
A summary of the Senate lawsuit was posted to X, formerly Twitter, by State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff). Rogers noted that Arizona law requires “agencies be led by Senate-confirmed directors,” and wrote that she is “proud” the Arizona Senate GOP “is committed to upholding the law to protect Arizonans’ liberty.”
The lawsuit summary declares Hobbs “has openly and overtly defied” the Arizona State Constitution by refusing to make nominations. The lawsuit accuses Hobbs of withdrawing her previous nominations “in a fit of political pique,” and arranging “for the installation of these same individuals as ‘Executive Deputy Directors’ of their respective agencies.” Petersen (pictured above) and his colleagues argue in the lawsuit that these officials “purport to indefinitely exercise all the powers of the agency director but have never been confirmed by the Senate.”
They allege Hobbs “violated a bonding statutory directed, acted in excess of her lawful authority, and failed to perform” her constitutionally imposed duty to “promptly presenting nominees for agency directorships to the Senate for its advice and consent.”
Hobbs made her decision to appoint indefinite “Executive Deputy Directors” after an Arizona State Senate panel rejected the nomination of Joan Serviss to run the Arizona Department of Housing in a 3-2 vote.
Her nomination was declined after State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queens Creek) provided evidence that Serviss plagiarized dozens of advocacy letters written to the federal government to lobby on behalf of activist groups. Hoffman claimed Serviss plagiarized other advocacy groups, as well as Bloomberg and a blog titled American Banker.
After Serviss’ nomination was rejected, Hobbs released a statement that referred to Hoffman as a “fake elector” and accused him of creating a “political circus” over Serviss’ rejected nomination. Hoffman, in turn, accused Hobbs of throwing a “petulant temper tantrum” because the nomination did not go as she wanted.
Petersen warned that decisions made by Hobbs’ indefinitely assigned directors are legally “dubious,” and that “litigation against the state” over any decisions made by a director who was not confirmed by the Senate “would surely prevail.”
A representative for Petersen said the State Senate president was not responding to press inquiries about the lawsuit when reached by The Arizona Sun Times, but indicated this may change in the future.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Warren Petersen” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 3.0. Photo “Katie Hobbs” by Katie Hobbs.Â
