Ray Stern
Arizona Republic
Republican Treasurer Kimberly Yee jumped into the fray over how state agency directors should be appointed by refusing to acknowledge the authority of two top employees given new titles by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Lawyers for the Treasurer’s Office and outside counsel advised her that the legal status of the employees as agency bosses was now “murky,” which led her to “not recognize” two of Hobbs’ appointees as at a State Board of Investment meeting, Yee told The Arizona Republic Wednesday.
As a result, she said, the two appointees — Barbara Richardson of the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions and Elizabeth Thorson of the Arizona Department of Administration — could not participate in the meeting.
“This absence of a lawfully appointed director to serve from these two agencies create legal uncertainty,” Yee said. “It really does jeopardize the proceedings of the State Board of Investment and will continue to do so until the governor reinstalls legitimate directors into these positions.”
On Monday, Hobbs ditched the process used for decades in the Legislature to appoint the heads of state agencies subject to Senate confirmation, writing in a letter to state Senate President Warren Petersen that she was tired of the “political circus” that has led to stalled appointments.
