Word: mechamics
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Archconservative Pontiac Dealer Evan Mecham needed five tries to become Governor of Arizona. Now, just ten months after taking his oath, the grandfatherly Mormon is under siege. He has been ridiculed in the comic strip Doonesbury, faces a formidable recall campaign, and is the target of a grand jury investigation that could lead to impeachment...
This week the recall campaign will present Arizona's secretary of state with more than 350,000 signatures demanding a recall vote on Mecham; fewer than 220,000 would be enough to force another election by next May. By contrast, Mecham squeaked into office with only 344,000 votes, a 40% plurality in a three-way race that split the Democratic vote. Former Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, who campaigned for Mecham, has called for his resignation. Congressman Morris Udall and former Governor Bruce Babbitt have signed the recall petition. Says Ed Buck, a gay Phoenix businessman and conservative Republican...
...fuss? For starters, Mecham, 63, has a daunting image problem. A veritable faux pas factory sporting a constant smirk and a vindictive manner, Mecham strikes many voters as a simpleminded ideologue who is giving a bad name to the nation's second-fastest-growing state. After rescinding the Jan. 19 holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Mecham defended the use of the term "pickaninnies" for blacks. In February he asked for a list of state employees who are gay. Says Republican State Representative Jane Hull: "This state has had enough. It's just getting too damaging...
...buffoon factor has crippled Mecham's governorship, charges of incompetence and corruption could kill it. Apart from spearheading the change to a 65-m.p.h. speed limit, the Governor's biggest accomplishment to date may be the opening of an Arizona tourism office in Taiwan. Says Republican State Senator Tony West: "Mecham has neglected the day-to-day administration of the government, and a number of his appointments have been catastrophic." Mecham's nominee for a state investigator's post was a former Marine who had been court-martialed twice. The Governor's special assistant went on leave after being charged...
...Mecham, a right-wing Republican elected last year, does face the prospect of losing his job. Some 227,000 Arizonans have already signed petitions for a recall election, 10,000 more than required to put the issue on ballots. But when the letter backfired, leading to more recall signatures, Mecham claimed he had never seen it; a machine had been used to sign his name. Bill Long, chairman of Mecham's campaign finance committee, dismissed the ruckus, noting that the words were just "standard conservative rhetoric...