Senate staffer rebuffs apology video from Katie Hobbs over firing

PHOENIX (AP) — Talonya Adams, a Black woman who was fired from her legislative job six years ago, said Thursday she doesn’t believe Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was genuine in her apology for her role in the termination that two juries said was discriminatory.

Adams called a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Phoenix a day after Hobbs published a video apologizing to Adams and reckoning with her own failures to effectively combat racism. The latest jury verdict in favor of Adams last month has tripped up Hobbs’ frontrunner campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor.

But Adams didn’t find the video convincing.

“Her response is a response to a political crisis. It’s not a response to racism,” Adams said. “Her statement is not an apology. It’s designed to allow her to get over a political hurdle.”

Adams told Capitol Media Services she plans to file a notice of claim Friday alleging Hobbs has deliberately given the impression that she is incompetent. The claim is a first step toward a potential lawsuit.

Hobbs has said she made a group decision with two others to fire Adams from her job as a Democratic policy adviser in the state Senate in 2015, when Hobbs was the Senate’s top Democrat. Adams was awarded $2.75 million by a federal jury last month, though the judgement was later scaled back due to a $300,000 cap on federal workplace discrimination judgements. The Senate was also ordered to rehire her.

Hobbs initially deflected responsibility, blaming Republicans for underpaying Adams and making the ultimate decision to fire her. On Wednesday, she acknowledged her response “fell short of taking real accountability” and said she was “truly sorry for the real harm that I caused Ms. Adams and her family.”

She said her understanding of racism has been too narrow, and she’s missed opportunities to fight for justice.

Adams said Hobbs has engaged in racism and has failed to use her position as one of the most powerful people in the state to stand up to it. She said Hobbs should drop out of the campaign for governor but declined to endorse either of the two men running against her, suggesting instead that former Arizona Corporation Commissioner Kris Mayes should run. Mayes is running for attorney general.

She said Hobbs’ pledge to hire a diverse campaign team and, if elected, to create positions focused on racial equity throughout state government is an inadequate response to workplace discrimination.

“We need to stand united against racism,” Adams said. “We need to become an anti-racist society. We need to challenge racism. And we need to disallow anyone that is engaged in racist conduct…to lead.”

A spokeswoman for Hobbs, Jennah Rivera, declined to comment on Adams’ Thursday statements.