Questions for nominee irk Governor’s Office
Environmental pick faces vetting from GOP senator
A Republican state senator who is a key gatekeeper in Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ effort to assemble her Cabinet is again at odds with the Governor’s Office, this time over answers he wants to questions that are rife with political undertones.
Sen. Jake Hoffman, a Queen Creek Republican who helms the Senate’s newly created committee to vet gubernatorial nominations, sent three pages of questions to Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Karen Peters on March 9.
The request, a copy of which was obtained by The Arizona Republic, includes 11 questions about environmental issues — including Peters’ opinion on climate change, compliance with federally set ozone standards, and mass transit as an effective way to reduce carbon emissions. He probes topics that are political lightning rods in Republican circles, such as California’s action to ban the sale of new gasoline-burning vehicles (the single largest source of carbon emissions in the state) by 2035.
The document provides a preview of the grilling ahead for Peters, who previously worked for Phoenix since 2005, most recently as a deputy city manager overseeing water services, public works, sustainability and environmental programs. Hobbs named Peters to lead the ADEQ in December, and she began work in February, but Peters must still receive approval via a majority vote in the state Senate.
Hoffman said the request was made to help the committee understand Peters’ views and how she would run the agency.
“We believe that having that robust conversation is not only fair to the nominee — giving her the opportunity to respond like this is fair to the nominee — but it’s also in the best interest of public debate, and the citizens that we all represent,” he said.
Hobbs’ spokesperson Josselyn Berry shot back at Hoffman’s stated motive, noting he has twice put Peters on an agenda for vetting and canceled both interviews.
“Now he’s sending this questionnaire,” Berry said. “How much further is Hoffman going to move the goalposts for our nominees? What is clear is that he’s not taking this seriously and it’s nothing more than a political game to him.”
Questions about policies, laws in other states
Though Hoffman has said in the past he wants to see agency leaders who will follow established state law and not attempt to change policy, he’s asking Peters to weigh in on whether she would recommend that Arizona follow California’s lead by pushing to reduce carbon emissions by limiting vehicle sales.
“Do you believe Arizona could find itself in a similar situation and would these ever be a scenario where this would be an appropriate measure to take?” Hoffman wrote to Peters.
Hoffman said that “while it should be left to the legislative body” to set policy, “unfortunately, executive branches do tend to cross the line and go into a policymaking, a legislative function. And so
understanding where people stand on important issues, issues of strategic importance to the state of Arizona, is a good thing.”
In other questions, Hoffman asked what role public transit plays in improving air quality.
“Do you believe ADEQ has a role and responsibility in studying and scrutinizing the actual data involved in these claims that transit is better for the environment so that we are making datadriven decisions, and not driving policies that are ideologically motivated just to get people out of their vehicles?” Hoffman asked.
Another question asks, “Should the state of Arizona rework its economy, and should Arizonans change their lifestyles to combat climate change and decreasing resources such as water?”
Climate scientists are in near total agreement that climate change is real and humans cause it, and polls show a majority of Americans say they are concerned about climate change. But how far governments should go to curb it often is a tricky political issue dividing Republican and Democratic policymakers and their supporters.
Hoffman confirmed that no other nominee has received supplemental questions, and declined to share his own views on climate change, saying it was Peters’ perspective and not his own that was relevant.
A spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Quality did not answer questions, including whether Peters would respond to Hoffman’s inquiries, or make Peters available for an interview.
Is it vetting, politics — or both?
Hobbs and her allies have previously charged that Hoffman — and Senate Republicans who voted to create the new committee — was inserting politics and trying to create roadblocks in a confirmation process that typically is routine. Hoffman counters that Arizonans deserve a thorough vetting of nominees and alleges Hobbs has not sufficiently done that herself, pointing to the governor’s pick to lead the state child welfare agency who was let go after a few weeks on the job.
So far, just one of Hobbs’ more than two dozen nominees to lead state agencies has received confirmation from the state Senate, a process that has exemplified the political division at the Capitol this year.
Jennifer Toth, a former county engineer and director of the Maricopa County Department of Transportation, was confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 21 to lead the Arizona Department of Transportation. Hobbs has sent six other nominees to the Senate who are pending consideration, according to Senate records.
According to Arizona law, nominees can serve for up to one year in their posts without Senate confirmation.
By naming Hoffman to lead the nominations committee, Senate GOP leadership has given vast power to one of the Legislature’s farthest-right members. Hoffman leads the Arizona Freedom Caucus, which has threatened to sue the governor over a nondiscrimination executive order, though the caucus has not followed through, and he signed on as a fake elector in a 2020 plot to keep former President Donald Trump in power.