20 April 6thth–April 12th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | music | cafe | film | culTuRe | NighT+Day | feaTuRe | NeWs | OPiNiON | feeDBacK | cONTeNTs | “The governor has continuously extended herself out to the Republicans for input on legislation and budget and they continue to ignore her, to disrespect her, to try to remove her from the process,” Mendez told New Times. “Republicans have done everything besides spitting in her face.” But the GOP sees the situation differently. “Right out of the gate, she has alienated any ability to work with the legislature,” Scarpinato said. “When you’re disparaging and alienating good people, I think that doesn’t portend very well to getting a legis- lative agenda done with the opposite party.” Hobbs says she’s just giving the GOP a taste of its own medicine. “Republicans haven’t stopped campaigning,” Hobbs said. “So why should I?” The Veto Queen Hobbs is leveraging her power against Republicans with a tool that’s red, rectan- gular, and fits in her pocket. It’s the veto stamp she inherited from the state’s last Democratic governor, Janet Napolitano. And she’s been putting it to use. Hobbs vetoed the first 15 bills that came across her desk, according to data from her office provided to New Times. As of April 3, she vetoed 20 bills in total and signed 12. Hobbs caught flak for vetoing a lean budget proposal from Republicans in February. In March, she angered Republicans when she vetoed a bill that would end taxes on groceries and another that would ban “judging an individual on the basis of the individual’s race or ethnicity” in schools. Then, she vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have repealed the “sunrise process,’’ a cumbersome step in the process for healthcare professionals seeking to expand their scope of practice that involves defending the expansion to a legislative committee. All Republican lawmakers and 21 Democrats supported the measure. “I will support legislation regardless of where it comes from,” Hobbs said. “But I will not sign into law any legislation that attacks people’s rights and doesn’t address serious issues. There is an appetite to send me things that don’t meet those criteria, but that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to work with folks to tackle the real issues.” On February 16, Hobbs whipped out her veto stamp a whopping 13 times in a single day. She has already broken Napolitano’s record for the most vetos in a first legisla- tive session and is on track to shatter her record for all-time vetoes by any governor. According to the Arizona Mirror, Hobbs could “veto her way to a Democratic legisla- tive majority” by making a show of vetoing bills that attack drag shows and critical race theory, issues that appeal largely to fringe right-wingers, according to surveys. “Things like drag and critical race theory, those things don’t come up in conversations about what people are worried about,” Hobbs said, bashing the GOP for eschewing such issues as the water crisis, housing shortage, and educa- tion. “Those bills are culture wars. They are just part of an extreme ideology intended to ramp up divisive rhetoric.” Republicans say Hobbs is trigger-happy with the veto stamp, but Mendez and other Democrats cheered the new governor for exercising her power strategically. “Knowing that the governor is there as a backstop is exactly what the public wanted when they chose Hobbs over Lake,” Mendez said. “I don’t dread going to work because she is there. If she wasn’t there, we John Moore/Getty Images “Looking at the first three months or so in office, I am so proud of everything we have accomplished,” Hobbs said. Hobbs from p18
