After the Arizona Senate on Feb. 9 Nominating Committee Public Hearingsmembers considered the appointment of Dr. Teresa Cullen as Director of Health Services, but Gov. Katie Hobbs withdrew her nomination, expressing disappointment with the decision.

Hobbes nominated Cullen for governor late last year after he won. She has 27 years of public service experience, including volunteering to run Sierra Leone’s only obstetric Ebola clinic. She served in the U.S. Public Health Service Commission with the retired rank of Major General. She serves as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Director of Health Informatics for the Veterans Health Administration. She serves as Chief Information Officer for India’s Health Service. She is the Director of Health for Pima County.

“Her actions and decisions have saved countless lives during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hobbes said. “In December 2022, Arizona became the state with the highest number of deaths from his Covid per capita in the nation. Thanks to Dr. Cullen’s leadership in this turbulent time, more The people of Arizona survived and live with us today.”

“Even with this mountain of expertise and an immeasurable track record of public health success, some lawmakers were skeptical over a tweet a few years ago thanking frontline health workers. decided that he should engage in vicious personal attacks and criticism,” said Hobbes. “This is not only silly, it undermines the important work at hand.”

After the opening remarks at the meeting on February 9, light questioning began and turned into active questioning by both Commission members and the public, particularly in relation to Karen’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. rice field.

The first question concerned information or documents provided to the governor’s office prior to Karen’s nomination and how her medical experience would affect her role as state public health director. But the question quickly turned aggressive.

“On March 25, 2021, you criticized Governor Ducey’s executive order to lift some restrictions, stating at a press conference that everyone should take this seriously, not just businesses. “Can you explain your criticism of the Ducey order to lift some restrictions over the course of a year in the run up to the pandemic?”

Cullen said as public health director he will not set limits but make recommendations based on what he sees in each community. Cullen said she would not attend meetings of the oversight board and that she would not be held responsible for the board’s decisions regarding the implementation of health policy, but Senator Jake Hoffman (Republican – Maricopa) I kept putting pressure on her.

“It is against logic and normality that oversight boards do not base their policy directly on the recommendations of the public health experts they hired, but you are telling us that it is not. I’m trying to tell

Cullen said he submits weekly reports to the oversight board, including the state’s current COVID-19 vaccinations, but does not enforce public health restrictions.

“As Pima County’s top public health officer, you seem to be on the fence. [of] I don’t understand why anyone would believe that when they were directly responsible for public health policies enacted by Pima County,” Hoffman said.

Hoping to prove his claim, Hoffman pulled out video footage of the December 12, 2020 Oversight Board meeting, noting how Cullen was testifying at that meeting. Cullen apologized to the committee and said he stopped attending board meetings after a certain point because he was exempted from his previous management, and said he would get the committee’s exact board meeting dates.

During ongoing questions about Karen’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hoffman noted that she was “playing on words” by talking about the 2020 and 2021 COVID-19 response, rather than the current one. ‘ and accused him of doing that.

An Arizona resident provided public testimony during the conference. Dr. Bob Englund, who has known Karen for 40 years, succeeded him as Director of the Pima County Health Department.

The Prime Minister of England “assures that his attitude towards service to the community and care for health is genuine”, and during his tenure he had no say in policy matters. “That explains some of the questions about where this came from. [the policies] After the fact. “

Kevin Patten, who was born and raised in California, said in testimony how he and his family moved to Arizona because there were fewer COVID-19 restrictions than there were in California. son no longer requires vaccines or face masks to participate in in-person learning.

“Imagine my horror when I learned that the new governor wanted to appoint someone who seemed to embody ‘Faucisism’ and was about to mandate all this again. It’s not just terrifying, it’s appalling,” Patten said.

Kevin Patten testifies.

“In the unlikely event that she seems to have forgotten that a law was passed banning vaccine mandates, if she can recommend vaccine mandates or mask mandates and Governor Hobbs makes it happen. , I would like to add that I think people should know that there is an army of families, parents, teachers, business owners who have been on this same page,” Patten said. We will not respond, if that means we will come here on foot, the Occupation Movement will be revived, and we will camp in the square just outside.

Following the public testimony, the committee took part in a final debate in which Senator Lela Alston (D – Gilbert) apologized to Cullen for the individual’s actions at the meeting. Senator Eva Birch (D-La Paz) ) also apologized for not raising Karen’s voice during the meeting. Both Democrats voted yes, but three Republican senators voted against due to concerns over Cullen’s testimony.

“While I am deeply concerned that Dr. Cullen has chosen not to proceed as a candidate for ADHS Director, I understand and respect her decision,” Hobbes said. What Republicans did on the State Senate nominating committee was nothing less than harassment, and those who participated in it should be ashamed of their actions, as we all should.”

Karen plans to resume her position as Pima County health director, but the future of the state health department remains uncertain.

“If the Senate nominating committee is unwilling to recognize Dr. Cullen’s skills and expertise, the states they support may not have public health experts,” Hobbes said. As long as Americans choose politics over the people of Arizona, some of the most talented and capable candidates will choose not to serve in state affairs, and it will be the people of Arizona who will suffer the most because of these political games. ”