PHOENIX — Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ nominee to serve as the state’s top public health official was rejected by a Republican-led vetting committee, after a three-hour partisan grilling that echoed the tone of Capitol Hill confirmation hearings.
The state Senate’s new Director Nominations Committee voted 3-2 along party lines Thursday evening not to recommend to the full Senate the nomination of Dr. Theresa Cullen, Pima County’s health director, as director of the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Relentless questioning by the three Republicans made it clear that whomever Hobbs nominated as health director would face a COVID litmus test.
“God forbid some other situation, an unforeseen 100-year situation comes down the pike, I cannot fathom how devastating the impacts would be if Dr. Cullen was in charge,” said State Sen. Jake Hoffman, the Republican committee chairman and leader of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus.
Left unsaid by Hoffman: Under Republican leadership, Arizona had the highest COVID death rate in the country.
Cullen’s responses didn’t appease the committee’s Republicans. At times, she stood her ground; at other times she said she couldn’t recall details of specific events or reversed course on past actions. By the end of the grueling hearing, Cullen appeared to be worn out.
The Cullen hearing was also a litmus test for how future nomination hearings could play out, as Hobbs fills more than two dozen agency leadership positions that directly affect the lives of Arizonans.
Hobbs: 'Needlessly Brutal Interrogation'
"That was a needlessly brutal and political interrogation of Dr. Cullen,” a Hobbs spokeswoman said via email.
The governor’s office plans to meet with Cullen to discuss the next steps in the process, spokeswoman Josselyn Berry said. She added: “There's no intention of withdrawing her at this time.*
The full state Senate will have the final say on the Cullen nomination.
Job Vacant for 18 Months
The Department of Health Services has lacked a public health expert's leadership for a year and a half, since Dr. Cara Christ’s departure in August 2021 for a job at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona.
The acting director is Jennie Cunico, the deputy director of planning and operations.
The agency’s responsibilities put its 1,000 employees in touch with virtually every Arizonan: maintaining birth and death records; regulating nursing homes and other care facilities; preparing the state for a pandemic.
Before and during the pandemic, regulation of nursing homes collapsed, according to state auditors. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for action over DHS’ systemic failure to investigate complaints.
There was little interest during Cullen's hearing in that subject or others related to the future of DHS.
Nomination Clash Was Inevitable
The clash over the DHS nominee was inevitable.
Republicans’ aggressive questioning of Cullen reflected the politicization of the pandemic, as a contest pitting individual rights versus government mandates.
On Twitter, Hoffman's Freedom Caucus celebrated the defeat of "Pima County tyrant Theresa Cullen."
"It's hard for me to call it a hearing. It felt a lot more like a prosecution,” said Will Humble, a Cullen supporter and a former health services director appointed by GOP Gov. Jan Brewer.
"I don't think that she was prepared for the kind of vitriol that she got, especially from the chairman."
During the pandemic, many Arizona Republicans opposed limitations on individuals, businesses, and schools to combat the virus.
Pima County officials at the county and city levels - largely Democratic officeholders - repeatedly collided with Gov. Doug Ducey and Republican lawmakers over their more aggressive COVID response.
Feature of Divided Government
The Republican-led committee’s clash with the nominee of a Democratic governor was also inevitable - a feature of Arizona’s first divided government in 15 years.
Confirmation hearings barely registered in recent years. Republican governors could count on a smooth ride for their nominees from fellow Republicans in the Legislature.
The creation of the nominations committee this month by Republican Senate President Warren Petersen, and Hoffman’s appointment as chair, also upended the traditional nomination process.
In the past, the nominee was vetted by the subject-matter committee in the Senate. Cullen would have been questioned first by members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
“They're the experts, the staff is the experts,” said Douglas Cole, of HighGround Public Affairs in Phoenix. Cole has been an adviser to Republican officeholders for more than three decades.
“This new makeup basically is offering a clearing house approach, that everyone's going to appear in front of the same members of the Senate, they're going to get similar questions.”
A 'Hyperpartisan' Hearing
Petersen’s insertion of the combustible Hoffman as a gatekeeper for every nomination assures more combative hearings for some of the more than two dozen Hobbs nominees.
Hoffman made a national name for himself as one of the “fake electors” who were part of Arizona Republicans’ effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Cole labeled the Cullen hearing as “hyperpartisan.”
"It's more along the lines of how Supreme Court nominees on the national level are done," Cole said. "That type of confirmation hearing is now becoming a part of the political environment here in Arizona."
Cole noted one benefit of the hearing: “Nominees now have a roadmap along with the governor's office on how this is going to play out.”
That might not be a good thing, according to Humble.
“Talented candidates who have accomplished big things in public health are going to look at this job and say, ‘Look, I'm not willing to go in front of that committee,’” he said.
“You need somebody who's talented, who's experienced and who wants the job for the right reason. And those are the persons I'm afraid we've maybe permanently scared off.”
What Comes Next
The full Republican-controlled Senate will have the final say on whether to confirm Cullen.
Before the Cullen hearing, the nomination committee quickly advanced the first nominee to appear, Angie Rodgers for the Department of Economic Security.
Under state law, there are several possibilities for what could come next for Cullen, according to Cole:
-The Senate approves the nomination, despite the committee’s disapproval. Cullen would then serve as DHS director.
-The Senate rejects the nomination. Hobbs would have to pick a new DHS nominee.
-The Senate doesn’t vote on the nomination. Cullen could then assume the director’s job for no more than a calendar year.
-Hobbs withdraws the Cullen nomination, or Cullen pulls herself out of consideration, and the governor finds a new nominee.
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