Earlier Canceled Holiday for Civil Rights Leader : Arizona Governor Proclaims King Day

Gov. Evan Mecham, under fire by civil rights leaders since he rescinded a holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., announced Thursday that he would honor King with a proclamation.

Supporters of a King holiday denounced the move and said they would continue to press for a boycott that already is estimated to have cost the state tens of millions of dollars in convention business.

“My feeling is that the governor’s proclamation is a sham and a hoax,” said House Minority Leader Art Hamilton, a Democrat. “It certainly is second-class, second-rate . . . and that would be generous.”

Mecham, a Republican, says the original holiday was declared illegally.

Only Legal Option

“Commencing in 1988, the third Sunday in January is proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Day,” he said. “I take this action as the only statutorily legal option that the governor has in this matter.”

Lawmakers killed a bill in 1986 to conform with federal practice and make the third Monday in January a state holiday in honor of the slain civil rights leader. Their refusal prompted Mecham’s predecessor, Bruce Babbitt, to issue an executive order making the third Monday a holiday for state executive branch employees.

Mecham rescinded the order a week after taking office, saying he was following Republican Atty. Gen. Bob Corbin’s advice that only lawmakers or voters at large can create legal holidays. He urged lawmakers to refer the issue to a vote of the people, and refused to say what he would do if the Legislature sent him a bill instead.

The moves drew national attention, as did Mecham’s later statements that King did not deserve a holiday, and that the whole question was “a non-issue.”

Urges 50-Year Wait

As recently as this month, Mecham said it would be better if everyone waited 50 years before deciding whether to honor King with a holiday.

“I don’t think there’s any change of mind,” he replied when reminded of that statement. “I think the proclamation speaks for itself.”

The proclamation says that civil rights “is the goal and desire of all people of good will,” that progress has been made and still is needed, and that King “is generally accepted as a symbol of our commitment to civil rights.”

Mecham said he knew that his proposal would not please everyone, but said it was not motivated by an effort being organized to force a recall election or by the boycott by some conventions and performers.