Today’s deep mystery: Why was Arizona’s treasurer suddenly Governor For A Day?

Did Arizona’s other constitutional officers suddenly become temporarily incapacitated? Late yesterday, state treasurer and lone Republican in succession Kimberly Yee announced that she would assume the temporary status of acting governor, saying she had been “notified” of the necessity.

But why? Where are Governor Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, and Attorney General Kris Mayes, all Democrats and all of whom precede Yee in succession? Yee didn’t offer any explanation of the necessity of the change, but she did use the occasion to take potshots at the absent governor:

“I have been notified that I will be serving as Acting Governor later this evening until mid-morning tomorrow,” the release on X, formerly known as Twitter, said. “While I am pleased to step into this role, I will refrain from naming directors to the 13 agencies that currently have vacancies and will not call the Arizona Legislature into session to confirm them. That being said, I do hope when the Governor returns to Arizona, she will promptly name qualified directors to these important state agencies and remove the legal uncertainty that exists for all of the regulatory actions taken by the agencies. I expect to see a swift resolution to this matter, so we can get back to getting the work done for Arizona taxpayers. The people of Arizona deserve leaders who follow the rule of law.”

“Pleased” seems like a term of art here.  Whatever the reason for the sudden and temporary gap in Democrat stewardship of Arizona, Yee sounds as though it’s not necessary. She also hints that Hobbs has left the state, but without disclosing why.

The specific criticism relates to a stunt Hobbs pulled regarding appointments. Yee blocked two of her ‘acting’ directors from participating in meetings until Hobbs complies with proper procedure, a decision announced before the transfer of power:

Lawyers for the Treasurer’s Office and outside counsel advised her that the legal status of the employees as agency bosses was now “murky,” which led her to “not recognize” two of Hobbs’ appointees as at a State Board of Investment meeting, Yee told The Arizona Republic Wednesday.

As a result, she said, the two appointees — Barbara Richardson of the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions and Elizabeth Thorson of the Arizona Department of Administration — could not participate in the meeting.

“This absence of a lawfully appointed director to serve from these two agencies create legal uncertainty,” Yee said. “It really does jeopardize the proceedings of the State Board of Investment and will continue to do so until the governor reinstalls legitimate directors into these positions.”

On Monday, Hobbs ditched the process used for decades in the Legislature to appoint the heads of state agencies subject to Senate confirmation, writing in a letter to state Senate President Warren Petersen that she was tired of the “political circus” that has led to stalled appointments.

Shortly after that, though, someone “notified” Yee that the other Democrats had taken a powder. Hmmmmm.

What prompted the abdication? Mayes apparently is legitimately out of state and had been prior to this, but that doesn’t explain why Hobbs and Fontes have made themselves unavailable. Yee’s statement suggests that Hobbs also left the state, but why would she do that without ensuring that the proper second-in-command was available to take over? And why would simply leaving the state somehow incapacitate Hobbs? Governors travel all the time without transferring their authority to others, especially when the legislature isn’t in session. This isn’t 1823 or 1923, after all.

It’s possible that Hobbs may be having some medical issue that has not been made public, but the governorship is not the presidency. It’s not entirely necessary to transfer authority to the next in line while under anesthesia. But even if it was, that authority should be transferred to either the AG or Secretary of State, not the Treasurer — especially if it’s not some sort of emergency.

So what’s the issue that convinced the three top Democrats in Arizona to hand over authority to the lone Republican in statewide constitutional office? Brent Scher offers a potential reason, via Twitchy:

Maybe coincidence, but this is wild.

As Biden landed in Arizona tonight, the state was forced to designate its GOP Treasurer Kimberly Yee the temporary governor.

She’s 4th in line of succession behind Dem Gov, Dem Sec of State, and Dem AG, who seem to have all left the state. pic.twitter.com/8NVeQGiu0v

— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) September 28, 2023

Biden’s in Arizona nominally to honor John McCain, but more to make this into a soft-campaign trip:

President Joe Biden is scheduled to arrive Wednesday in Phoenix ahead of a planned speech on democracy and a tribute to his friend, the late Sen. John McCain.

As usual, a presidential visit to Arizona is no accidental gathering. …

Biden’s visit comes on the night Republican presidential contenders — with the notable exception of Trump, the GOP frontrunner who will again skip such an event — gather in California for their second debate. The next day he will offer the kind of high-profile counterprogramming being president brings.

Well, that’s off to a fabulous start. Coincidentally or not, Biden’s arriving to discuss “democracy” at just the moment when the three top Democrats in the state are abandoning their posts for reasons. What better way to highlight Democrat leadership than to have the president who has been derelict on the southern border show up while his fellow Democrats are derelict in their offices?

At some point, Democrats may come up with an explanation for this very strange sequence of events. It might even make some sense, although that will be an uphill climb. Maybe they’d all be better off staying gone for the rest of their term and let Yee handle the job instead.