Mecham Testifies for First Time in Trial

Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham, testifying Wednesday for the first time in his impeachment trial, denied that top campaign fund-raisers were rewarded with jobs in his Administration.

Defense attorney Fred Craft led the 63-year-old Republican through an hour of testimony without ever referring to the obstruction of justice charge currently being heard by the 30-member state Senate sitting as judge and jury.

Before Mecham took the stand, the Senate overwhelmingly rejected a defense motion for a mistrial on grounds of alleged witness-tampering by the Department of Public Safety.

Arrest of Witness Cited

Craft had complained of four separate instances of direct or indirect involvement by the state police agency with witnesses, including the arrest of one on a 10-month-old misdemeanor warrant the day after she testified.

The Department of Public Safety has insisted that officers were merely carrying out normal police duties.

Mecham, calm and sometimes folksy, portrayed himself as a trusting, “naive” governor who was betrayed by key staff members.

The 192-seat spectator gallery was nearly packed for the first time since the trial began Feb. 29. Outside the Senate building, a handful of Mecham supporters carried signs proclaiming his innocence. Mecham has denied any wrongdoing.

Mecham contradicted testimony by earlier witnesses, who claimed that former Mecham aide Lee Watkins, an ex-convict, was given a high-level job as a reward for raising the most money for Mecham’s 1986 campaign--his fifth try for the governorship.

‘Never Criteria . . . for Job’

“Money was never an object and it was never a criteria for anyone to get a job,” Mecham testified.

He said Watkins “brought in loans” but not a significant amount of contributions.

Mecham said he himself was the largest contributor to his own $1.2-million war chest.

The governor, suspended since the Arizona House of Representatives impeached him on Feb. 5, said contributors were routinely told that “in this campaign, a contribution buys you better government and nothing else.”

The obstruction of justice charge stems from Mecham’s alleged attempt to thwart an attorney general’s investigation of a reported death threat by Watkins against former Mecham aide Donna Carlson. Carlson at the time was testifying before the grand jury about possible wrongdoing by the governor.

Held Victim of Staff

Craft attempted to build the defense argument that Mecham was the victim of a mutinous staff.

Mecham testified that he no longer trusted the people working for him as completely as he once did.

“It was a trust misplaced,” he said. “Yes, naive. I think that’s the word . . .

“But you can’t go through life just mistrusting everybody, and what you have to do is hope that you can cut your losses when you find out you can’t trust some people. I learned an awfully lot about that.”

Mecham also is accused of concealing a $350,000 campaign loan and misappropriating $80,000 from the governor’s protocol fund. He faces a criminal trial April 21 and a recall election May 17.