FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Senate DINO Committee Recommends to Reject Hobbs' Nominee for Department of Housing After Confirmation Hearing Reveals Concerning Professional Conduct
PHOENIX, ARIZONA— Senate Republicans are sharing extreme disappointment after testimony in today's Senate Committee on Director Nominations (DINO) revealed Governor Hobbs' appointment to the Arizona Department of Housing is unqualified to lead this agency.
During questioning of Joan Serviss, troubling information came to light regarding a history of repeated and seemingly pervasive plagiarism while serving as Executive Director with the Arizona Housing Coalition. Over a period of about four and a half years, an alarming number of individual statements were documented as written by other groups, but presented by Ms. Serviss as her own original works. Under her leadership, both government entities and the public were misled, threatening the credibility of this organization. Given this concern, a majority of members on the Committee found it extremely difficult to fully grasp Ms. Serviss' true experience and qualifications.
With the Director of the Arizona Department of Housing responsible for overseeing hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to address homelessness and affordable housing issues, it became apparent that Ms. Serviss would be unfit to serve in this position. As a result, the Committee voted three to two to recommend rejecting the confirmation of Ms. Serviss to the entire Senate body. The Senate will vote on this recommendation early next year.
"It's frustrating that the Hobbs Administration once again did not conduct proper vetting of a nominee tasked with leading a critical agency, like the Arizona Department of Housing," said Chairman Jake Hoffman. "We've carried out our due diligence and have so far identified several unqualified, partisan individuals placed by Hobbs in these positions of power that directly impact the lives and livelihoods of our citizens. As I stated during this hearing, we cannot have a Manchurian candidate who will blindly follow the direction of special interest groups. We need independent thinkers who are seeking to serve only the best interests of our state and our taxpayers. In the absence of Hobbs conducting her own thorough vetting, the Committee on Director Nominations will continue to ask the tough questions of these individuals because it is what our citizens expect of us, and our state can only afford to advance highly qualified directors to lead our agencies."
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For more information, contact:
Kim Quintero
Director of Communications | Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus