Editor’s note: This story was part of the Session Wrap coverage, which reviewed and analyzed the 2023 legislative session.
House and Senate Freedom Caucus members started the legislative session with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs as their prime nemesis, but soon found a new foe in a rural Republican.
On several occasions this session, House Freedom Caucus members aired their grievances with Rep. David Cook, R-Globe, on social media. Cook said Wednesday that he had differences with Senate Government Committee Chairman and Freedom Caucus Founding Chairman Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, on some of his bills related to rural health care.
One of Cook’s bills would have established procedure for a health care insurer’s denial of a services claim and allow a health care provider to timely request a hearing with the Office of Administrative Hearings if the provider’s claim denial grievance is unresolved. That bill was held by Hoffman and never received a hearing in the Senate even though Cook said he had the votes to get it to the governor’s desk.
The bill was introduced by Cook because he was trying to increase the number of insurance denial hearings held per month by the Office of Administrative Hearings, which Cook said needs to be around 70. Right now, the office hears about two per month, he said.
“It was a racket and that’s got to do with the Senate, and I believe, Hoffman,” Cook said. “We are putting people’s lives at risk and having people’s lives shortened in rural Arizona because of the Senate.”
Hoffman did not return a message seeking comment.
Cook said he went to Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, and Chief of Staff Josh Kredit to try to get the bill heard but was told to bring the bill back next session.
“I know people in my community that are getting cancer now and need cancer treatment today and tomorrow,” Cook said.
Another one of Cook’s bills would have prohibited Department of Health Services rules that regulate radiation training and experience from exceeding Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This bill was brought forth to allow rural hospitals to treat cancer patients when many hospitals currently must send rural patients over 100 miles to a hospital that meets DHS regulations despite a rural hospital having resources to treat patients.
That bill also didn’t make it through the Senate and never received a hearing in the chamber’s Rules Committee.
Cook’s request to Petersen wasn’t the only way he responded to his frustration over bills in the Senate.
Many of Hoffman’s bills didn’t receive any votes from Democrats in the House and needed a full 31-Republican caucus to pass. On May 15, Cook killed 10 of Hoffman’s bills by voting against them with Democrats. Several of the bills were election-related that would have likely been vetoed by Hobbs anyway.
This didn’t go over well with Freedom Caucus Republicans and many approached Cook on the floor that day after it became apparent he was voting “no” against Hoffman-sponsored bills.
That day wasn’t the only day Cook helped kill Hoffman’s bills as he voted against two of Hoffman’s bills on April 4, which was less than a week after Hoffman held Cook’s health care insurance bill in Senate Government.
“The people did not vote us in so that we could vote down good Republican bills based on immature personal vendettas. Infuriating,” Rep. Rachel Jones, R-Tucson, wrote in a tweet about Cook’s votes against Hoffman’s bills on May 15.
When many Freedom Caucus members demanded Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, D-Tucson, be expelled from the House for hiding Bibles in the House members’ lounge, Cook was the only Republican who voted against censuring her and one of several who voted against expelling her.
The expulsion vote failed and Cook defended Stahl Hamilton on the House floor. He called Stahl-Hamilton his friend and said the entire demonstration against her was “overkill for a bad chosen prank.”
Cook was also instrumental in negotiating a Proposition 400 deal that Hobbs signed but Freedom Caucus members opposed. He spent months of the session working with stakeholders and other members crafting the deal. He said he didn’t like the first version of the bill that passed the Legislature but was vetoed by Hobbs.
Every Freedom Caucus member supported the version of Prop 400 that bifurcated the ballot question posed to Maricopa County voters, splitting light rail funding from the rest of the tax continuation proposal.
“I wasn’t happy with that bill (when it was first vetoed) but I couldn’t control what was happening in the Senate,” Cook said. “When it got vetoed, I still did not give up.”
One Freedom Caucus member, Rep. Jacqueline Parker, R-Mesa, said she would have preferred to let the half-cent transportation tax collected by Prop 400 in Maricopa County expire after the bipartisan proposal passed.
In a tweet on Aug. 3, Parker blamed Cook and other Republicans including Sens. Frank Carroll, R-Sun City West, Ken Bennett, R-Prescott and Rep. David Livingston, R-Peoria, for passing a Prop. 400 proposal that Freedom Caucus Republicans and some others opposed.
That wasn’t the only time Parker targeted Cook on social media. She also criticized Cook for going on a trip to Rome with lobbyists during a month-long break while lawmakers were in session. Cook was pictured in an Instagram post from Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations Executive Director Tina Waddington. The picture showed her and Cook in Rome with Hobbs’ Title 42 Coordinator Billy Kovacs, Arizona Defense and Industry Coalition President Lynndy Smith and lobbyist Rick Stilgenbauer.
The trip was a stop the group made on its way to Ukraine and Cook was there as chairman of the House’s International Trade Committee. The group attended a briefing in Rome to meet with a representative from the United Nations to discuss how Arizona could help Ukrainian farmers export wheat and grain.
Parker shared the photo of the group on Twitter and wrote “your taxpayer dollars hard at work.” She also liked a Tweet from conservative activist Nico Delgado calling Cook “the worst Republican in the house.”
Cook said it’s become common for him to become a target of other members, but he tries to schedule a meeting with anyone who might have a problem with him to work out their differences.
“Nine times out of 10, they’ll never do that,” Cook said. “I think those people are just misguided.”
Cook is term limited out of the House after the 2024 session, and an upcoming battle he’ll have with another Republican member is with Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, for her Senate seat.
Cook announced he was running as a candidate for the Senate in the 2024 election after Rogers shared sexually explicit images of President Joe Biden’s son on social media in July. Cook said the incident was “completely unacceptable” for a sitting senator in his district.
“LD7 deserves better in the Senate. Someone who actually lives, works and is invested in the district and the people. Making their lives better. Not someone who has a million dollar home getting tax breaks while claiming to live in a trailer park in Flagstaff,” Cook wrote in a text to The Arizona Capitol Times on July 7.
As for his bills that didn’t make it through the Senate, Cook said he also plans to bring those back next session. He also plans to bring back a bill that would add Arizona to the list of states calling for an Article V convention to establish Congressional term limits, which Freedom Caucus Republicans also opposed.
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Cook becomes Freedom Caucus spoiler - Arizona Capitol Times
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