Governor Doug Ducey announced the appointment of former failed Congressional candidate and former Speaker of the Arizona House, Andy Tobin, as interim superintendent of the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions, replacing outgoing Superintendent Lauren Kingry, who recently resigned.
Tobin was appointed in October as director of the Arizona Department of Insurance, a role he was marginally qualified for as an owner of a small insurance company. He will continue in that position while filling his new post.
“I want to thank Superintendent Kingry for his service and dedication to the state,” said Governor Ducey. “Andy Tobin is a proven and effective leader who has helped make Arizona government more efficient and accountable to taxpayers. I know he’ll bring that same approach to the Department of Financial Institutions, and I thank him for his willingness to take on this new role in service to the state and citizens of Arizona.”
Tobin, who has protected business cronies of the Republican establishment over the years, joined Governor Ducey’s administration in January, initially as director of the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures. In that role, he was instrumental in dissolving the agency. Many believe his appointment to the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions is a that the Department of Insurance will be dissolved as well. Some in the insurance industry believe that less oversight will allow the less scrupulous to thrive.
Ducey is selling the scheme as an effort to cut down on bureaucracy and waste and increase the efficiency and quality of service to Arizona taxpayers.