This Week At The Legislature
The House remained recessed this week, while the Senate returned for limited business, including yet another DINO committee hearing. This time, the subject was Carlos Contreras, nominated to lead the Office of Economic Opportunity, which he’s already been managing under the Hobbs administration.
If you’re wondering whether the hearing was any less of a political spectacle than the others we’ve seen, unfortunately, the answer is no. The confirmation process continues to be more about partisan games than qualifications. So where do things actually stand, now two and a half years into Governor Hobbs’ term? Let’s take a look at the state of agency confirmations — who’s been approved, who’s still in limbo, and what that means for the basic functioning of our government.
For background, there’s a straightforward process: the governor appoints leaders to run state agencies, and the Senate confirms them. That way, critical departments — like Health Services, Housing, or Insurance — are run by qualified people who can get to work serving the public. Some change as the administrations change, and some stay on.
But over the last two years, this basic process has been hijacked. “DINO” refers to the Senate Committee on Director Nominations, a relatively new committee created in 2023 by Senate President Warren Petersen to oversee confirmations of the governor’s agency director nominees. It’s chaired by Senator Jake Hoffman, a Freedom Caucus member who’s made no secret of his opposition to Governor Hobbs.
In theory, the committee’s job is to vet nominees based on their qualifications. In practice, it’s become a tool for obstruction — delaying hearings, forcing resignations, and creating chaos across agencies that impact the lives of everyday Arizonans.
Instead of moving qualified nominees through confirmation hearings, the vetting process has turned into a tired political circus attacking qualified nominees and in some cases, forcing them to withdraw or delaying votes, as was the conclusion for Mr. Contreras on Thursday.
As a result, key agencies that impact people’s everyday lives are either without leadership or stuck in limbo. The state has lost tremendous leaders like Joan Serviss, Carmen Heredia, and Teresa Cullen, as these games continue to create dysfunction across the government. Ultimately, agency employees and Arizonans are paying the price.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to work. These hearings were never meant to be a partisan battlefield. We need to get back to a process that values qualifications over ideology, and service over showmanship.
