Arizona Child Welfare Director Dismissed Amid GOP Attacks Speaks Out

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1449659

Great. Encourage the trolls by folding. Fucking fight for what you believe in. Jesus.

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C’mon, Katie. It is not enough to just veto insanity - you have to fight it on all fronts.

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It would be helpful to have some explanation of why the governor made this decision. As it stands, the story only explores the troll and the ex-director.

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Dem pols would be wise to consider how demoralizing to their voters it is to constantly cave to these pieces of garbage.

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The GOP has controlled Arizona politics for decades. Whether Hobbs can keep from being made completely irrelevant is a real question. I voted for her and am supportive, but am wondering if her strategy and tactics are up to the challenge. What does she get by giving way on her appointments? One hopes for better than this. Stewart represents a significant portion of Black Arizonans. I’m guessing tossing him aside (if that’s what this is) right after her taking the governorship will not go over well in that community. The GOP has driven off 2 of her appointments now; and, I believe, will happily sabotage any positive governing for the sake of the populace because that’s what they are good at.

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[quote=“chjim, post:6, topic:234664”]
“I’m guessing tossing him aside (if that’s what this is) right after her taking the governorship will not go over well in that community. The GOP has driven off 2 of her appointments now; and, I believe, will happily sabotage any positive governing for the sake of the populace because that’s what they are good at.
[/quote]”

Sounds to me like you know Republicans only too well. You are absolutely correct; appeasing these ass-hats will get her nowhere but defeated instead of reelected next time out. She may not have the votes to put her people in, but she has to be seen as willing to fight, and cannot just go along. Where she is as of now, is a bad strategy, with a bad look, asking for a bad outcome down the line.

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Beyond this, you mean?

[Stewart] said that on Wednesday morning, they scheduled a meeting and told him it was clear to them that his confirmation wouldn’t make it past Republican opposition, and that they would therefore be withdrawing his nomination.

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A copy of the Letter of Reprimand and his response have been published elsewhere. He didn’t get reprimanded for requesting telework but for refusing to report for work after the request was denied. Insubordination and going AWOL are pretty big deals. I’m sympathetic to Stewart’s position since this occurred in May 2020, when the pandemic was in full swing and before vaccines were available. Teleworking had become very politicized, especially in states with Republican governors. I honestly don’t know whether Stewart’s job needed to be done in person. Still, it’s hard to see how someone who left under a cloud from a midlevel position at a state agency is the best person to lead that agency three years later.

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Great. Encourage the trolls by folding. Fucking fight for what you believe in. Jesus.

Agree, but it’s hard to make sense of this. I’m assuming Stewart was willing to go through with ethical and personal attacks from Republicans at the confirmation hearings. So why would Hobbs push him to the curb? It used to be, as Gov, you got something of value in return. But that doesn’t appear to be the case here or perhaps it’s that the ‘why’ question is left unanswered.

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Not judging Governor Hobbs nor defending Stewart, but it’s been a truism in politics for a while that you pick the fight you think you can win. There are so many fights on the political horizon esp. in states where leadership political affiliation is not fully represented in the electorate and people like Lake won’t hesitate to cheer on the mob. It’s the CrAZy state for sure.

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Hobb’s certainly turned out to be a real profile in courage, Didn’t she?

Hi! To find out what I can do, say @discobot display help.

She should have fought for her pick. This continual ‘taking the high ground’ stuff has got to stop. It only emboldens the trash.

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it was clear to them that his confirmation wouldn’t make it past Republican opposition, and that they would therefore be withdrawing his nomination.

Assuming this is true, why should the governor waste political capital fighting a battle she cannot win? If she can’t get this guy confirmed, then what? Just keep nominating people who can’t get approval in order to score justice boners?

I’m sure it would be superbly righteous of her to keep the position empty rather than give in, but how does that serve the needs of children?

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And if this guy wasn’t confirmed by the legislature, as seems likely, then people would be slamming her–and probably the Democratic Party in general–for both her poor choice in appointees, and picking unnecessary fights she couldn’t win.

It’s almost as if people here are predisposed to find Democrats wrong and bad no matter what the do…

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The governor and her office were given ample opportunity to provide one and failed. Nobody’s fooled. This was a political calculation about her picking her battles for self-survival/self-promotion, caving rather than recognizing that this was indeed a battle to fight, because that’s what you fucking do when it’s RIGHT.

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What is wrong here is caving to the right wing without a fight. That is the typical Democratic MO.

That’s what politics in purple states is about, alas. I think Hobbs made a mistake but maybe there’s something else she got in exchange. If she didn’t get anything for this it was a huge mistake. Folding to the GOP in exchange for nothing is not a good look and makes one wonders who and what a supposedly DP politician stands for exactly…

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