PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs demoted three officials running state agencies to deputy director posts after a judge ruled her move to name them and other agency heads as “deputy executive directors” to avoid a contentious Senate agency director confirmation process was illegal and there was no hope the trio could win confirmation.
But the demotions didn’t mean lower salaries for the former agency leaders.
Despite David Lujan, Karen Peters and Dana Allmond being stripped of their leadership posts by the Democratic governor last month after Senate Republicans signaled they could not be confirmed, state records obtained by Capitol Media Services show they are still getting paid exactly what they were before demotions.
And all three are serving in significantly reduced roles.
Allmond is working as a deputy director of the Department of Veteran Services and reporting to a new director Hobbs named last month. That person, John Scott, had been Allmond’s deputy.
Meanwhile Peters and Lujan are sharing responsibilities with two other deputies in their respective departments and reporting to an interim director.
Lujan was earning $220,000 a year as the top official in the Department of Child Safety, which is charged with responding to child abuse and neglect and oversees thousands of children in foster homes. He is now among three department deputies reporting to the temporary agency head, Hobbs Director of Operations Ben Henderson.