Republicans who snubbed Gov. Katie Hobbs will quickly become irrelevant

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs delivered her first State of the State speech on Monday, only to watch as a handful of Republican legislators walked out or turned their backs.

The state of the state Legislature, it seems, is …

Rude.

Granted, it wasn’t exactly the Gettysburg Address, but Hobbs delivered a decent enough speech for her first time out, touching on many of the major issues confronting the state. There were no surprises.

“We are all here,” she began, “because we care deeply about Arizona.”

Well, most of those in attendance, anyway.

Members of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus walked out, unwilling even to listen to what a new governor, at the start of a new legislative session, had to say.

“As was foreseeable, Katie Hobbs utilized the time-honored State of the State Address to once again promote her radical, woke policy initiatives, rather than address the profoundly serious concerns that Arizonans have regarding the political and fiscal realities of daily life,” the caucus group said in a press release after the event.

So now it’s “radical” and “woke” to support public education, to require accountability when spending public money, to protect our dwindling groundwater supply?

Who, I wonder, is really out of step here?

Hobbs’ speech was hardly a wish list of the left. She called for:

– Overriding the aggregate spending limit so that schools attended by nearly 1 million Arizona children aren’t faced with widespread layoffs or even closures come April 1.

– Repairing crumbling schools and redirecting to all schools the $68 million in bonus funding that's now reserved only for schools with good test scores.

– Creating a task force to figure out why 1 in 4 teachers are fleeing the classroom and what to do about it.

– Requiring privately owned charter schools to account for our how they spend the public’s money.

– Boosting state spending on affordable housing and offering a child tax credit to families earning less than $40,000 a year and exempting diapers and tampons from the state sales tax.

– Expanding college scholarships, including $40 million for undocumented students who now qualify for in-state tuition rates, thanks to passage of Proposition 308.

– Updating the state’s water management plan to put a stop to large agricultural interests that are pumping the ground dry in rural areas.

– Holding the line on further restrictions to abortion.

“I will use every power of the governor’s office to stop any legislation or action that attacks, strips or delays the liberty or inherent right of any individual to decide what’s best for themselves or their families,” Hobbs said.

You’d think the far right – the people who scream about vaccines – would be thrilled with those words.

Instead, some of the state’s most conservative legislators walked out on Hobbs, the first Democrat to be elected as governor since 2006.

"It took 5 seconds for Katie Hobbs to begin legislating from the 9th floor, so I will not listen to her rhetoric for even 5 seconds," incoming Rep. Rachel Jones, R-Tucson, tweeted.

“We could not sit idly by while she repeatedly declared her intention to advance her woke agenda that stands at odds with the people of our state,” Rep. Jacqueline Parker, R-Mesa, explained, in a press release.

Republican Reps. Alexander Kolodin of Scottsdale and Jake Hoffman of Queen Creek also walked out. Sens. Anthony Kern of Glendale and Justine Wadsack of Tucson, meanwhile, stood and turned their backs.

Class acts, one and all.

Earlier in the day, the Freedom Caucus announced plans to sue Hobbs over last week’s ”unconstitutional” executive order – the one that strengthens worker protections for LGBTQ state employees and contractors.

Imagine filing a lawsuit because the state says it won’t fire people for being gay?

“The Arizona Freedom Caucus will oppose Katie Hobbs’ woke agenda,” Hoffman, the group’s chairman, vowed, during a Monday morning press conference.  “You can bet your ass that will happen.”

You know another sure thing on which you can bet your hindquarters?

The Republicans who walked out on Monday – unwilling even to listen to what the governor had to say – will, in the end, have no voice in how Arizona is governed.

A split government, after all, requires compromise, and compromise requires a level of maturity not seen in the snowflakes who couldn't stand even to listen on Day 1 to what Arizona's new governor had to say.

Monday's stunt was the first step to irrelevance.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Republicans who snubbed Gov. Katie Hobbs are irrelevant