High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Term and Trials of Former Governor Evan Mecham - Hardcover

Mecham, an auto dealer who had unsuccessfully sought public office many times, was elected governor of Arizona in 1986. His first act in office was to rescind the state holiday commemorating the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. According to freelance writer Watkins, Mecham gave evidence that he was racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic. The author also charges that the governor's sole criterion for naming appointments to state office, even high office, was loyalty, rather than competence; further, that he included the press in a perceived conspiracy of those who were "out to get him." A recall movement, begun shortly after Mecham took office, collected more signatures than votes received in the election. In 1988 the impeached governor was removed from office, although the recall election was cancelled and he was acquitted in a criminal trial for accepting illegal campaign contributions. The story of Mecham's administration is dramatically told by Watkins in an even-handed, well-documented account.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once referred to states as laboratories of democracy. Sometimes the experiment goes wrong, as Watkins details in his fascinating account of the troubled administration of Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona. Mecham's tenure in office is a tale of deceit, distrust, and disaster, culminating in his impeachment and removal from office in 1989. Although the book is at times disjointed, and lacks a needed and insightful evaluation of the effect of Mecham's administration on Arizona politics, it nonetheless lays to rest the notion that politicians are like Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Watkins's work effectively takes the reader into the vortex of Mecham's political Twilight Zone, where the slogan is "I have a scheme." Highly recommended, for undergraduate and public libraries in particular.
- Stephen K. Shaw, Northwest Nazarene Coll., Nampa, Id.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.