The newly formed Arizona Senate Committee on Director Nominations held a hearing Thursday to consider whether to accept Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’ nominee for director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, Dr. Theresa Cullen.
State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), who chairs the committee, characterized Cullen as “extreme.”
The committee interviewed the former director of the Pima County Department of Public Health, then voted down party lines, 3-2, to recommend to the Senate not to put her nomination up for a vote.
Cullen tried to repeatedly distance herself from the Pima County Supervisors’ decisions regarding COVID-19. At one point, Cullen said she did not attend their meetings. But Hoffman pulled up a photo of her at one of the meetings.
Pressed some more, Cullen said she didn’t know if the Pima County Supervisors listened to her advice. Hoffman retorted that he couldn’t believe that someone who makes almost $250,000 a year doesn’t know if they heed her advice. It “defies logic and normalcy,” he said.
The committee asked her if she had any association with a website the Pima County government put up to shame local businesses that stayed open during COVID-19. When she said no, she was shown a previous statement she had made promoting the website.
Hoffman repeatedly called Cullen out for giving conflicting answers. At first, she said COVID-19 policies aren’t made based on race. But pressed further, she admitted they are, citing blacks having higher rates of hypertension than the general population.
He became irritated when she backtracked from previously recorded statements.
“You’ve now backtracked from almost every single statement you’ve made to the media,” he accused her.
The state senator further criticized her public statements.
“It seemed like you had an air of supremacy about you. … And so, why in your role, did you take an incendiary and condescending tone towards the people that you had been hired to — in your words — protect?” he said.
Hoffman expressed frustration when she would not directly answer his question about whether businesses need the government to regulate them.
“I don’t like the legalese kind of wiggling out,” he said.
Hoffman expressed his concern about Cullen’s unwillingness to speak with businesses and other members of the public during the pandemic about how to proceed.
“My heart hurts for the students in Pima County, for the children of Pima County during 2020 and 2021, when under your direction, and under your guidance and recommendations and proposals, under your guidance.they suffered innumerable seemingly,” he said. “And it’s unfortunate that you are seemingly unwilling to recognize that there was robust public debate at the time.”
State Senator Janae Shamp (R-Surprise), an operating room nurse, also expressed her concern about Cullen’s attitude toward those who disagreed with her views.
“You said to the Daily Star that it’s the ultimate arrogance and privilege to think that you don’t need to get immunized. Do you think there’s any other reasons why a person could choose to not get vaccinated other than arrogance and privilege?” she said.
Cullen responded, “I do believe that people make their own decisions.”
Cullen was questioned about her previous support for a Pima County resolution declaring racism a public health crisis. She didn’t deny it, stating, “Racism and socioeconomic inequity is a public health crisis.”
Cullen often said she didn’t know or didn’t remember when asked tough questions. Asked “in hindsight” whether she would undo her recommendation to shut down schools in Pima County, Cullen said she “didn’t know.”
When Hoffman asked her about the two COVID-19 curfews implemented in Pima County, Cullen said she didn’t remember one of them. Hoffman responded and said he couldn’t believe that she did not remember that.
Hoffman asked her if she believed local governments should comply with state law, and she said yes. However, when then-Governor Doug Ducey banned Pima County from enforcing its mask mandate, Cullen said she would ignore Ducey. Cullen co-authored a report that said universal masking is essential in K-12, even for the vaccinated.
The committee confronted her about hitting like on a tweet praising China’s draconian COVID-19 restrictions, which came from the Kremlin-backed media outlet Redfish. Cullen responded and twice denied hitting like on the tweet.
https://twitter.com/redfishstream/status/1238457755415064576
Hoffman interrupted State Senator Lela Alston (D-Phoenix) when she said that “some people are more concerned about schools staying open and businesses more successful” than caring about people’s lives. He instructed her to avoid “impugning motives.”
Alston apologized at the end of the hearing for discussing COVID-19.
“I’m sorry, we spent so much time talking about the pandemic tonight,” she said.
About 20 people from the public spoke at the end of the hearing, almost all in opposition to Cullen. State Representative Austin Smith (R-Glendale) tweeted, “The public testimony against Dr. Cullen’s confirmation is brutal. The people don’t even want her.”
The public testimony against Dr. Cullen's confirmation is brutal. The people don't even want her. #AZSenateConfirmation
— Rep. Austin Smith (@azaustinsmith) February 10, 2023
He also observed during the hearing that she “repeatedly fought against the re-opening of K-12 schools” and “stated that if you get the Covid vaccine it will prevent you from getting Covid.”
Chris DeSimone, a radio talk show host in Tucson, told the committee that the exposé with the questions “is really something that a bunch of us have been waiting for two years now. I was torn, like please take Dr. Cullen off our hands.”
State Senator Sine Kerr (R-Buckeye) said she was voting against Cullen because what she’d done “at the county level would be duplicated at the state level.”
Hoffman gave a closing statement after the vote, saying, “it’s not about COVID-19, it’s about her body of work.” He cited “the curfews, shaming businesses, thousands of jobs eliminated,” a court ruling that struck down her COVID-19 restrictions, her “arrogant” comments about citizens who disagree, “schools closing” and her “taking credit” for them closing.
He said that led to “depression, suicide,” and “setting children back” academically. “She still refuses to accept the impact” of what she’s done, using “legalese, word games,” and “blaming the supervisors” instead. He cited “her inability to recall key events” at a time when those actions were on “center stage.” She is “repeatedly backtracking her own words in public,” he said.
Hoffman condemned her “failure to speak up for the most vulnerable in Pima County.” He lamented the “lack of work” by Hobbs choosing Cullen.
“We didn’t get a reasonable candidate, we got an extreme candidate,” the state representative said.
He warned that if there is another major health disaster like COVID-19, “I cannot fathom how devastating the impact would be.”
The committee also interviewed and voted on Angela Rogers, Hobbs’ nominee for director of the Department of Economic Security. Rogers, who previously served as a lobbyist for the Children’s Action Alliance and former Governor Janet Napolitano. She was unanimously approved. The committee will next interview Karen Peters, Hobbs’ nominee for director of the Department of Environmental Quality.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
