On Tuesday, the Arizona Senate rejected the nomination by Governor Katie Hobbs of Dr. Theresa Cullen to head up the Arizona Department Of Health Services. The Senate’s vote was interrupted by Minority Leader Sen. Senator Raquel Terán, who announced that she had received a letter from the governor rescinding the nomination.
After consulting with staff attorneys, and confirming that the Senate had not received a message from the governor’ office about the matter, Senate President Warren Peterson proceeded with the vote.
Cullen was the subject of a hearing last week in which she claimed to not know whether the school closures she supported were in the best interest of children. However, the science and data are in, and the school closures created tremendous learning loss.
“We have Dr. Cullen on record in a number of media publications stating she supported the scientifically baseless and prolonged school closures, business closures, lockdowns, curfews, mask mandates, vaccine mandates and public shaming of those who did not comply with her discriminatory COVID directives, including her support for race-based public health policy,” said Committee Chairman Jake Hoffman. “However, when I asked Dr. Cullen if she believed the benefits of her decisions outweighed the consequences, she would not give us a direct answer. Lives and livelihoods were lost under her leadership. The fact that Katie Hobbs thinks Dr. Cullen is fit to serve in a statewide public health role proves how radical and out of touch Hobbs is with the people of Arizona.”
“If only Governor Hobbs would have taken the time to conduct the same thorough vetting process as my colleagues and I did at the Senate, we would not be here today, voting on- and ultimately rejecting- a nominee who clearly is not an appropriate fit for this position,” said Majority Whip Sine Kerr. “The people of Arizona deserve better.”
“This isn’t the Governor’s first rodeo. She served in the Legislature and also in leadership. She knows how this branch operates. Count your votes. Communicate with us. We’ll let you know if the votes are there. After all, I’m the Majority Leader. Don’t try to push a radical director nominee while preaching to the media a call for ‘bipartisanship’ between lawmakers,” said Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli.
“We heard some pretty damning testimony in last week’s committee hearing that was only made worse with lies from Dr. Cullen. Presenting us with this kind of nominee only highlights a failure from the Hobbs administration. Please do better, Governor Hobbs,” said President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope.
Arizona Senate Committee Rejects Hobbs’ Nominee Cullen To Lead Health Department