The Daily Agenda: There's always more to the story

Hiring and firing go hand in hand ... A Medicaid bill could finally move ... And every time a politician flees, a reporter earns their wings.

Newly released records from the state give some insight into the brief tenure of the Department of Child Safety director who was asked to leave his post in February.

Even before DCS nominee Matthew Stewart had a chance to sit for a sure-to-be-hostile hearing before the Arizona Senate’s committee on agency nominees, he and the Hobbs administration fell out. Gov. Katie Hobbs offered little insight into why, saying his departure was “in the best interests of all parties involved.” 

At the time, Senate Republicans threw out a host of allegations against Stewart. The first round of records we got back then showed that Stewart was reprimanded for not working in person during the height of the pandemic, which on its own would not be enough to oust anyone.

Now, new records show that just days before his departure was announced, a former longtime employee filed a notice that she intended to sue the state over her dismissal, saying Stewart discriminated against her for being openly gay. 

The employee “was understandably concerned when Mr. Stewart took over the Department in January 2023. Within two weeks of becoming Director, Mr. Stewart terminated the only two Program Administrators that are openly gay.”

The employee was seeking backpay of about $40,000 and a $25,000 payment to cover emotional distress and attorneys’ fees. It’s not clear from the records released so far how the case played out. 

Another string of emails shows concerns of retaliation. In one email, former DCS director Michael Faust said that three managers feared Stewart would hold his 2020 reprimand against them and they would be fired or moved elsewhere. 

“I have had a history of being involved with the formal discipline of Mr. Stewart when he was previously a DCS state employee and I believe that involvement has influenced his inability to engage with me in a professional and thoughtful manner to defend the critical mission of protecting children,” one DCS employee wrote, records show. 

Stewart has spoken only to ProPublica about the whole ordeal, where he said he needed to make changes at the agency in order to spur the kinds of reforms the agency needed. Any firings were necessary to change DCS’ culture, he said, and went through normal HR processes. 

Firing top employees when a new agency head takes over isn’t abnormal. It makes sense for a top executive to want a team that aligns with a new vision. Sometimes, like in the infamous case of former Department of Economic Security director Tim Jeffries, the quantity of firings becomes a liability (though that was just one of many liabilities with Jeffries). But the underlying reasons for the firings deserve more scrutiny. 

The Governor’s Office told ProPublica in March that the allegations of anti-LGBTQ+ bias were “baseless” and claimed Stewart was asked to leave because he didn’t have the needed experience to manage a big agency. 

We asked Hobbs’ office for comment on these newly released records and on whether the claims from former employees played into the governor’s decision to ask Stewart to step down, but Hobbs’ office didn’t say how or if the claims were part of Stewart’s departure.

“As a social worker, the Governor is passionate about protecting our most vulnerable populations and she wants to build the best agency possible,” Hobbs spokesman Christian Slater said in a statement. “We thank Matthew Stewart for his service, but he did not have the personnel management skills to run a billion-dollar agency charged with Arizona’s most vulnerable populations.”

Fingers crossed for no shenanigans: Lawmakers are expected to move a bill today that will give the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System the ability to spend more federal dollars this fiscal year instead of facing a funding cutoff, Axios Phoenix’s Jeremy Duda reports. The state Medicaid agency needed authority to spend the money, or it would have missed payments this month as budget negotiations between the Legislature and governor continue. 

Debates are dead: One of next year’s presidential debates could be at Arizona State University — that is, if there are any debates, the Republic’s Ryan Randazzo reports. ASU, like many other universities, applied to the Commission on Presidential Debates to host a debate. But the Republican National Committee’s leaders have said GOP candidates won’t participate in any debates hosted by the commission because of “bias.” 

Not a border county: The Border Chronicle’s Melissa del Bosque profiles Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb as he’s transformed into “Sheriff Hollywood” over the past few years to boost his name ID and become a far-right media figure ahead of his run for U.S. Senate. Lamb, who now seems permanently attached to his cowboy hat, used to just wear polo shirts. And he’s drawn the ire of one actual border sheriff after he landed a Pinal County helicopter near the border wall in Santa Cruz County. 

“That same day, Lamb made a national network media broadcast talking about patrolling the border in his helicopter and taking action ‘on the border,’” Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway said. “This broadcast was obviously scheduled in advance. But, poor Sheriff Lamb, lacking a border backdrop, had to sneak into Santa Cruz County for the stunt.”

Staffing up: With the impending end of Title 42 coming next week, the Biden administration wants to send 1,500 more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, anticipating an influx of migrants who could present themselves there, Politico reports. About 2,500 National Guard troops already assist at the border now. 

We would also like to staff up. Help us hire 1,500 more reporters to keep an eye on Arizona’s politicians. Or just one would be good for now.

The Dem staff shuffle: The former communications director for Gov. Katie Hobbs, C. Murphy Hebert, has a new job. Secretary of State Adrian Fontes hired Hebert as deputy assistant secretary of state; Hebert previously served under Hobbs in the SOS office. She’ll take a pay cut for the new role, which oversees division heads and voter outreach, the Republic’s Mary Jo Pitzl reports. 

Scary situation: A team of reporters at the Republic investigated Arizona’s senior living facilities, finding a host of problems like a lack of oversight, violence among residents, staff shortages and companies motivated by profits instead of caregiving. The series includes stories of residents facing violence, the science behind dementia, caregivers who need more support and pay, potential solutions and a database of residents hurting other residents. 

“Arizona regulators have cozied up to the companies they govern, and state policy protects secrets instead of seniors,” the Republic reports. 

Somebody’s gotta do it: Since Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes won’t defend the law, Republican state lawmakers are attempting to intervene in a lawsuit to defend their 2022 law barring trans kids from playing school sports on the team of their gender, the Arizona Mirror’s Gloria Rebecca Gomez writes. Two families of trans kids have sued the state. 

Almost a year: The 19th interviewed lawmakers, physicians, and organizers, including several Arizonans, about the fallout of the Dobbs decision a year later. In some states, abortion immediately became illegal, but in Arizona, it became a confusing mess of overlapping laws that still are in the courts today.  

“At noon, a New York Times reporter sent me a screenshot of a statement that the state Senate Republican majority legislatures sent. And the statement was, ‘Abortion is now illegal in Arizona.’ And, of course, people were not sure what to do. We shut down. We canceled the rest of the day’s appointments,” Dr. Gabrielle Goodrick, a Phoenix abortion provider, told The 19th. “People were showing up, people were hysterical. The staff was upset. We started calling people for the next week telling them what was going on. You have the senators saying something, and then the governor saying something. We just felt it was safer to stop. I wish we had seen those patients.”

Quite a list: Three Arizona Republican members of Congress and three Republican state lawmakers are convening a new committee to discuss the state’s response to COVID-19, the Republic’s Stephanie Innes reports. U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs, Eli Crane and Paul Gosar are on the committee, as are Republican state lawmakers T.J. Shope, Janae Shamp and Steve Montenegro. 

It’s official: A trio of Republican lawmakers filed an ethics complaint against Democrat Stephanie Stahl-Hamilton after she hid some bibles in the House. Reps. Justin Heap, David Marshall, and Lupe Diaz accused her of disorderly behavior, theft and creating a hostile work environment, FOX 10’s Danielle Miller writes. 

She’s out: Democratic state Rep. Jennifer Pawlik, who has represented a competitive district in the Chandler area since 2019, announced she won’t seek re-election. The district’s other seat has been vacant since lawmakers expelled Republican Liz Harris last month.

Thanks, Russell Pearce and Kyrsten Sinema: Arizona’s Real ID, which the state has refused to make mandatory in spite of the constant threat that the Transportation Security Administration will require them to fly, may have some glitches. AZFamily’s Jason Barry reports that they’ve received several complaints from travelers whose IDs weren’t recognized, though the Arizona Department of Transportation says they haven’t heard about any widespread issues.

Sending water to the lakebed and trash to Phoenix: There are no plans to fix the broken levee in Lower Lake Mary near Flagstaff, the National Forest Service tells the Arizona Daily Sun’s Adrian Skabelund. There’s no money available to do it, it hasn’t caused any infrastructural damage and the area was formerly a lakebed. Elsewhere, Skabelund reports that Flagstaff officials are trying to find a place to put all of the city’s recyclables after the company that formerly handled the city’s recycling backed out. For now, they’re telling residents to hold on to their recyclable products while they try to work out a deal with the City of Phoenix.

You are my density: Despite a housing market in which even the town manager has struggled to find housing, the Payson City Council shot down yet another high-density development, the Payson Roundup’s Michele Nelson writes. Residents turned out to oppose the plan, saying it could lead to more crime and other problems, even though the high-density project “was designed for wealthy second-home owners rather than provide workforce housing,” Nelson notes.

Good news bad news: Maricopa County’s point-in-time count of the homeless population showed more people are homeless this year than last, but that the number of people living on the streets has actually slightly decreased. There are more people in shelters now after homeless service providers have opened hundreds of new beds recently, Axios Phoenix’s Jessica Boehm reports.  

It’s a rite of passage for a governor to flee an angry Howie Fischer and assorted other reporters as they yell questions about why the governor isn’t answering questions.

Gov. Katie Hobbs reached that milestone Monday as her staff attempted to beat back the gaggle of journalists chasing her to her car, asking about tamales and everything else.

Hobbs, of course, promised transparency would be a pillar of her administration.

“Why won’t you take any questions? It’s been four weeks, governor, since you had a gaggle. Why are you avoiding the public? Why are you avoiding the press, governor?” Fischer shouted at Hobbs until she got into a car and ducked the press.