The Daily Agenda: Someone has to vet them

But it probably shouldn't be him ... Does that math check out? ... And somebody had an extra espresso!

Gov. Katie Hobbs yanked all of her department director nominees from the Senate committee tasked with vetting them, complaining that the confirmation process had turned into a “political circus” and a “sad display of partisan obstructionism” by “extremists.” 

The big question is: What took her so long?

Strategically speaking, continuing to throw her nominees to the wolves — namely Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman, chair of the newly formed Senate Committee on Director Nomination — simply didn’t make sense. The Hobbs administration continued feeding that beast long after it became apparent that the committee had no intention of allowing most of her directors to proceed to a full Senate vote. 

Senate President Warren Petersen declared that by sidestepping the confirmation process, Hobbs has ensured that “the legality of every decision made by these state agencies is dubious,” which is itself a pretty dubious claim. The directors are allowed to serve in the position for a limited time without confirmation, and, as the Republic’s Stacey Barchenger notes, nobody cared when former Gov. Doug Ducey used that option. 

Senate confirmation exists for a reason. Our system operates on checks and balances. Sidestepping those checks, even to aviod Hoffman, should be a last resort.

To take the highly unusual step of fully sidestepping the confirmation process, Hobbs had to let the committee make her case for her. Last week’s hearing, in which the committee hammered on Department of Housing nominee Joan Serviss, was the last straw. Hoffman accused her of plagiarism for copying/pasting talking points from other housing advocates during her last job and sending them to lawmakers, which is a totally common practice, and for lifting lines from Bloomberg News, which is a grayer area.

Still, the committee has offered up some solid intel against other directors. 

The committee spilled the beans about Department of Child Services nominee Matthew Stewart’s troubling employment history, for example, though it appears Hoffman and company simply got the scoop that he was out, not the dirt that forced him out. And there are legitimate policy disagreements that could force Republicans to vote against Hobbs’ nominees. That’s fair.  

The public is entrusting nominees with powerful, important positions — they should be able to withstand scrutiny, even some harsh criticism, with some level of grace. Hobbs’ administration had many unforced errors in the nomination process, including failing to ensure that early appointees were adequately prepared for the hostile line of questioning that the committee members laid on them. 

But too often, Hoffman devolved into bullying and using the nominees as tools to criticize Hobbs rather than evaluating them on their merits. Because that’s the kind of guy he is. Allowing Hoffman to singlehandedly hold Hobbs’ entire administration hostage shouldn’t be the only option. 

However, somebody has to vet these nominees, and we don’t trust the Governor’s Office to do it. And to be honest, we don’t trust the press corps, either. There are far too few of us and far too many things going on at any given time for reporters to give nominees the attention they deserve.

If Hobbs wants us to believe that her administration can vet its own nominees, a good first step would be clearly and transparently outlining what, exactly, her plan is and how the public can trust that her nominees are indeed qualified for the jobs.

Instead, she offered a vague pledge to “pursue other legal avenues” to run the government in lieu of confirmed directors.  The public deserves to know exactly what that means. 

The job of vetting nominees shouldn’t be left to Hoffman. He’s proven he’s more interested in obstructing nominees than vetting them. But it still needs to get done. 

A lot can go wrong: U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema explained to her donors the strategy for a campaign that she won’t admit to her constituents exists, NBC reported. It’s basically to dominate among independents and depend on more Republicans than Democrats to back her. 

Not an election case: Kari Lake’s two-day trial over whether voter signatures on mail-in ballot envelopes are public record concluded, though it’s unclear when the judge will rule, per the Associated Press. The vibe in the courtroom was “testy,” ABC15’s Garrett Archer reports.

Border crossings up: Abortions in Arizona have decreased by 16% in the three years since the Dobbs decision, Axios Phoenix’s Jessica Boehm reports. Meanwhile, abortions have increased in every neighboring state, including by more than 200% in New Mexico. And now that the country of Mexico has fully legalized abortion, Arizonans are also crossing that border for easier access to care, the New York Times reports.

"I hear all the time patients … that had their procedures in Nevada, in Colorado and in California who said it was just so much easier for me to literally drive or fly to another state to get an abortion than it is to get an abortion in Arizona," Jill Gibson, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Arizona, told Axios.

Donate today!: The Arizona Republican Party has been shelling out $2,000 per month¹ to a Republican activist who has recorded songs about her QAnon beliefs, the Arizona Mirror’s Jim Small reports.² For obvious reasons, AZGOP Chair Jeff DeWit, the former state treasurer who is now in charge of overseeing the financial collapse of the state party, didn’t want to explain that one. Speaking of QAnon, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar recently “launched a thinly veiled, homophobic attack on Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, shockingly suggesting Milley should be put to death,” in his government-funded newsletter to constituents the Daily Beast reports. 

We’ll never use your subscription dollars to pay a QAnon singer $1,000 per month! Unless they are really really good.

Elections never end: If you’re a Maricopa County voter who’s confused about why you’re getting texts about your ballot being prepared, the Republic’s Morgan Fischer and Sasha Hupka have you covered with this handy guide to all the school board races, bonds and overrides coming up in this off-year election. 

Better than without a view: The Arizona Daily Sun is soliciting Flagstaffonians to write about the cost of rent for a series titled “Poverty with a view.” And while we’re on the topic of expensive things, the Mohave County Board of Supervisors is considering cutting its $10,000 per month contract with its water lobbying firm, Highground Public Affairs, as the county faces a predicted $18.5 million deficit, Havasu News’ Brandon Messick reports. 

We just got around to watching Michelle Ugenti-Rita’s combative interview with AZFamily’s Dennis Welch on “Politics Unplugged” about her candidacy for Maricopa County Board of Supervisors against fellow Republican Thomas Galvin. The former partier declared, “the party’s over” on the board of supervisors when she gets elected.

You gotta watch the clip for the maniacal energy she brings to the show. They record at 10 a.m.!

“... In a nutshell, that’s a long way of saying he sucks he’s got to go,” she said.

1. CORRECTION: We misunderstood the Mirror’s piece and originally reported that AZGOP has been paying the QAnon singer $1,000 per month. It’s $2,000 per month for a total of $13,000 so far.

2. Happy belated fifth birthday to the Mirror!