Senate panel rejects former lawmaker over incendiary politics

A Senate committee voted Wednesday, as expected, to recommend the rejection of a former Democratic lawmaker to lead a state agency, citing his past political comments.  

Former Senator Martín Quezada was appointed by Gov. Katie Hobbs to serve as director of the Arizona Registrar of Contractors, a small state agency tasked with licensing and regulating Arizona contractors who supervise construction projects. Quezada has served as the interim director for 114 days.  

The committee voted against Quezada 3-2 on party lines. Republicans put out a press release on the hearing shortly after calling Quezada an “unqualified extremist” with a “racist past.”  

Although this agency is not fraught with politics Quezada was one of the Legislature’s most vocal left-wing members over the past several years, both on social media and the floor.  

In the course of the hearing, committee members raised political topics such as transgender people in sports, face masks during Covid, white nationalism, racism and sexism in hiring, mass shootings, antisemitism, border security, ESG, Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, Critical Race Theory and Israeli-Palestinian relations.  

Creosote lobbyist Gaelle Esposito said last week that she’s never heard that the Registrar of Contractors job is political, but she expected the committee’s chairman, Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, would make it that way.  

“He’s going to bring up anything and everything he can even if it has nothing to do with what the Registrar of Contractors does because A) no one knows and B) conservative media certainly doesn’t care,” she said at the time.   

Most of the political questions on Wednesday didn’t come from Hoffman but from Republican Senators T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, and Sine Kerr, R-Buckeye, both of whom served in the Senate with Quezada last year.  

Quezada, and committee Democrats Sen. Lela Alston, D-Phoenix, and Sen. Eva Burch, D-Mesa, tried to steer the conversation away from “hot button” political topics (as Burch put it), but to no avail.  

Quezada had to contend mainly with charges of antisemitism, something state Treasurer Kimberly Yee labeled him with during their race for the same office in 2022.  

Quezada has made several statements supporting Palestine and opposing Israel, which most Republicans and some Democrats do not agree with.   

Former Republican and Jewish lawmaker Adam Kwasman spoke strongly against Quezada as a nominee for this reason. Kwasman said that historically people exercised antisemitism on the basis of religion, then on ethnicity, and now on nationality – like Israel.  

“Martín Quezada has been infected by this in my humble opinion,” Kwasman said. He said he knows directing the Registrar of Contractors has nothing to do with Israel, but it does, he argued, reflect the values of Arizona.  

Shope said the Israel Heritage Foundation called on the government to end Quezada’s contract.  

Quezada repeatedly denied the accusations of antisemitism as he has in the past, calling it “abhorrent.”  

Other people during public comment time spoke in support of Quezada, including the president of the Associated Minority Contractors of Arizona and the executive director of the American Subcontractors Association of Arizona.  

Quezada’s voting history came up several times, especially pertaining to last year’s Senate Judiciary Committee where Quezada voted “no” on every appointee in the name of wanting more diversity, but also voted against candidates of color, women and Jewish people. The committee at the time approved all candidates and Quezada was the only “no” vote.   

“You have an incredible background, and you are probably more qualified than anybody,” he told Pima County Commission on Trial Court Appointments candidate Nicole Barraza. “With that excitement and my thanks for your willingness to serve in this role I respectfully have to vote no.” Barraza is a Hispanic woman and asked Quezada after the hearing about why he voted against her. Quezada said he voted against two people of color because the committee wouldn’t approve them with intention. “It comes back to what I believe our role as a committee, of the Senate Judiciary Committee is, and we need to be intentional about this. I shouldn’t rubber stamp a person of color just because they’re a person of color either,” Quezada said at the time.  

Quezada referred to Constitutional Provision Article 6, Section 36 which states; “The makeup of the committee shall, to the extent feasible, reflect the diversity of the population of the state.”  

“I expect a higher standard from all of our senators here and when we are looking at appointments, when we are looking at – whether it’s boards, commissions, whatever, I expect them to not be discriminatory. I expect them to pick the best candidate for it,” former Senate President Karen Fann said at the time.  

Quezada cited that provision again on Wednesday and maintained that he wants to see more diversity, but also said he thinks it’s inappropriate to make hiring or firing decisions based on race or ethnicity. Hoffman accused him of making a “180” turn with his opinions.  

Kerr said in committee and in the press release later that Quezada once said it’s not his responsibility to do what he promises on the campaign trail. She asked how she could take him at his word. Quezada said he didn’t remember the comment or the context.   

The comment was made on June 22, 2022 to explain Quezada’s “no” vote on the main budget bill last session.  

“I don’t believe that it is our responsibility to do what we promised on the campaign trail; our responsibility is to do what is best for the people of Arizona and sometimes that is a bipartisan effort and sometimes it’s not,” he said. He continued to vote against the budget in protest of the Legislature not addressing a school spending cap.  

As of the afternoon of June 1, Senate Democrats didn’t issue a statement, but Senate Democrat Communications Director Calli Jones said in a text, “It’s ironic that a man permanently banned from Facebook and Twitter for misconduct and running a troll farm, consistently tries throwing social media comments in the face of qualified and dedicated public servants.” She was referring to Hoffman. 

Going forward, Quezada said he doesn’t know who might be picked for director or what his next steps will be.