On Thursday, Governor Katie Hobbs announced that her chief of staff, Allie Bones, resigned. The resignation of Bones follows the resignation of Hobbs’ Communications Director, her Deputy Communications Director and her Legislative Affairs Director.
Capital insiders say the departure of Bones means that “the real Governor has jumped the sinking ship.”
According to the announcement, Bones is leaving her position to “pursue new opportunities.”
“Ally Bones exemplifies the true meaning of public servant, and I am incredibly grateful for her leadership throughout the transition, and this first legislative session of my administration,” said Hobbs in a press release. “Her goal was to build a team that could work across the aisle to navigate divided government, and she accomplished that. With a successful bipartisan budget behind us, she is ready for her next endeavor, and I wish her nothing but the best.”
Bones offered her resignation effective immediately. The Governor’s Office says a new Chief of Staff will be named next week.
In April, Hobbs replaced her Communications Director, Murphy Hebert. Herbert left the administration after Hobbs’ former and disgraced spokesperson Josselyn Berry was forced to resign for a violent message on Twitter sent the same day of the tragic mass shooting in Nashville by a transman.
Hobbs was forced to seek the resignation of Berry after she tweeted an image that appeared to advocate gun violence toward people she deemed to be “transphobes” mere hours after a transman killed three adults and three young children at a Christian school in Nashville.
In February, the Arizona Senate rejected the nomination by 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 Senator Raquel Terán, claiming the Governor rescinded the nomination.
In February, after conceding her crack crew had failed to do “adequate vetting,” Hobbs demanded the resignation of Matthew Stewart, who she had earlier nominated to head up the Department of Child Services.
Hobbs was then put in the awkward position of asking a man she had fired from the Director of the Department of Economic Security position, Michael Wisehart, to lead the Department of Child Services (DCS).
Hobbs pulled Stewart’s nomination after Senate Republicans found his troubling history, which included being reprimanded for “insubordination and unauthorized absence” when he was a DCS training operations supervisor in 2020. At the time, Stewart resigned from his position immediately before an intended suspension could be issued to him.
In late April, an appointee of Hobbs withdrew her name just days before her confirmation hearing to the Maricopa County Commission on Trial Court Appointments was set to take place. Catherine Sigmon was named to the post by Hobbs roughly four months ago but resigned her position as part of abandoning her nomination, after “disturbing revelations came to light,” according to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Sigmon is the finance manager and co-founder of the controversial anti-school choice group, Save Our Schools in Arizona.
History in the making:
Allie Bones's decision makes this the first Governor resigning since Janet Napolitanohttps://t.co/uq59GavGWK
— Brian Anderson (@AZBrianAnderson) May 25, 2023
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