Katie Hobbs issued a ban against all reporters from being in attendance in order to cover her inauguration as her role of governor of Arizona this past Monday.
The Democrat’s crew only lets just one photographer coming from the Associated Press into the event hosted at the state Capitol while forcing all others to instead watch the event via live stream, according to local reporter Stacey Barchenger. Members of the mainstream media did, however, set up just outside the venue.
“Arizona’s 24th governor, Katie Hobbs, assumed power at 10 a.m. on Monday and in her first official act, she decided to take the public’s business private. Not a great start,” explained Laurie Roberts, a columnist for The Arizona Republic, via social media.
New year, new leadership in Arizona, new stakeouts because reporters aren’t allowed into the 10 a.m. swearing in of incoming Gov. @katiehobbs. Here’s @Adrian_Fontes arriving for the joint swearing in. pic.twitter.com/ArWf8aWWfE
— Stacey Barchenger (@sbarchenger) January 2, 2023
As highlighted by Roberts in the piece that they wrote, the restricted access blocked the ability of the reporters to ask questions about officials who are now leading the state. Others who also took part in inaugurations into their new offices on Monday included Democrats Adrian Fontes as secretary of state and Kris Mayes as attorney general.
It was also noted by Roberts that Monday was a state holiday and Hobbs will take part in a separate ceremonial inauguration this coming Thursday. Still, she continued in her piece, Hobbs “decided to take the public’s business private” as the very first thing she did in her official capacity, with a large section of the celebratory event paid for by still secret donors.
A clip that went massively viral highlighted Hobbs openly laughing while taking her oath of office, which spawned backlash from those in the camp of Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, who, in the same vein of many other GOP candidates running for statewide offices within the state of Arizona, has ended up going to the courts to issue challenges to the results of the 2022 election losses.
“This is one of the darkest moments in the history of Arizona. An illegitimate ‘Governor’ laughing in the face of our constitution. But it’s always darkest before the dawn. We will expose this fraud for the world to see. Justice is coming. [Hobbs] won’t be laughing then,” explained the Kari Lake War Room via a post sent out to social media.
As the vice president for legal affairs at the Goldwater Institute, Timothy Sanderfur was quick to rush to the defense of Hobbs, claiming that the entire video highlighted that Hobbs “was feeling emotional & made a little joke to her mother (holding the Bible) about how they were both getting choked up.”
