On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Director Nominations rejected another appointee of Governor Katie Hobbs to lead an agency in her struggling administration. The committee voted to reject the nomination of failed Treasurer candidate and former State Senator Martin Quezada as head of the Registrar of Contractors.
Quezada’s appointment will go before the entire Senate body for a final vote at a later date.
The rejection follows public outrage over the nomination of Quezada by members of the Jewish community due to his antisemitic rhetoric and support for the BDS movement.
The Arizona Senate must soundly reject the nomination of Martín Quezada as the director of the RoC. He has demonstrated, in his political career a consistent, radical anti-Jewish viewpoint. He is one of this state’s BDS leaders. Such bigotry has no place in any administration. pic.twitter.com/pZ3yBNfZjZ
— Adam Kwasman (@AdamKwasman) May 31, 2023
“The Arizona Senate must soundly reject the nomination of Martín Quezada as the director of the RoC (Registrar of Contractors). He has demonstrated, in his political career a consistent, radical anti-Jewish viewpoint. He is one of this state’s BDS leaders. Such bigotry has no place in any administration,” tweeted former Arizona State Rep. Adam Kwasman.
“Mr. Quezada has a history at the Arizona Legislature of spreading antisemitism, which prompted the Israel Heritage Foundation to send Katie Hobbs a letter calling for his termination as ROC Director,” said Committee Chairman Jake Hoffman. “What’s equally disturbing are his continual, on-the-record comments made while serving as a legislator regarding hiring and firing practices. According to Mr. Quezada, qualifications for a job are determined by skin color, gender, religion, and political affiliation. This is not a philosophy any state agency should ever adopt. The fact that Katie Hobbs is turning a blind eye to this is certainly more indicative of ‘chaos’ and not the ‘sanity’ she promised after taking office.”
“The ROC can ultimately make or break the livelihoods of contractors within our state, so it’s important to choose a leader who supports entrepreneurs in their quest to serve our citizens responsibly and honorably,” said President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope. “Unfortunately, during his tenure in the Legislature, Mr. Quezada developed a track record of voting against small businesses 82% of the time, according to data released from NFIB. We can’t in good faith sign off on a director who has a history of voting against the community in which he’s tasked with serving.”
“Some of the more disappointing moments from today’s committee highlighted Mr. Quezada’s baseless and hateful accusations against Republicans as a whole,” said Majority Whip Sine Kerr. “The ROC Director must be able to work with contractors of all races, genders, religions and political affiliations for the betterment of our state. Unfortunately, Mr. Quezada’s extremist views should automatically disqualify him from serving in this role. I would also argue that any politician who states they don’t believe they need to keep promises made to their constituents is not someone to be trusted in any capacity.”
BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) is a movement aimed at the destruction of Israel. The movement is an international campaign “aimed at delegitimizing and pressuring Israel, through the diplomatic, financial, professional, academic and cultural isolation of Israel, Israeli individuals, Israeli institutions, and, increasingly, Jews who support Israel’s right to exist.”
In August, the woman Quezada hoped to unseat, Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee, warned Morningstar Inc. that they had 30 days to prove they are not violating Arizona law in actively boycotting the State of Israel, or they would be placed on the Arizona Treasury’s prohibited investment list.
Arizona law prohibits a public entity or public fund from entering a contract or directly invest moneys with a person or company that is engaged in boycotting Israel.
The radical @katiehobbs nominee, Martín Quezada has been rejected by the Senate committee on nominations and currently he is about to be voted as “Rejected” by the whole Senate. This is a MAJOR victory against BDS and antiSemitism.
— Adam Kwasman (@AdamKwasman) May 31, 2023