Arizona Senate Drops One Mecham Count : Surprise Move Clears Way for Vote on Two Charges Next Week

The Arizona Senate dropped the most serious charge against Gov. Evan Mecham in a surprise move Wednesday that cleared the way for an early verdict in his historic impeachment trial.

After meeting behind closed doors for nearly an hour, the Senate voted 16 to 12 not to hear evidence on charges that the first-term Republican concealed a $350,000 campaign loan.

Mecham faces an April 21 criminal trial on that charge, and many senators expressed concern about possible double jeopardy.

Mecham refused to comment directly on the trial, saying it would be “inappropriate.” But in a speech to Republican precinct committeemen a few hours after the Senate vote, he said he was confident that he would not be removed from office.

“I can get along with the Legislature and let bygones be bygones as far as I’m concerned, and we can work together,” Mecham said. “I’m here to serve the people of Arizona.”

Defense attorney Jerris Leonard called the vote a victory for Mecham.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Gordon Jr., the presiding officer in the political trial, set aside today for consideration of legal memoranda. Good Friday will be a holiday. The 30-member Senate, sitting as judge and jury, is scheduled to hear closing arguments Monday before beginning deliberations on whether to remove Mecham from office.

At issue is whether Mecham obstructed justice by torpedoing an investigation of an alleged death threat by one aide against another, and whether he illegally loaned $80,000 in protocol funds to the family Pontiac dealership.

Sen. Wayne Stump, a Phoenix Republican and Mecham supporter, grinned in disbelief when his motion for dismissal of the third charge carried.

Doesn’t Expect Votes

Moments before, Stump had predicted no more than three votes in support of his argument that “a certain element . . . of quasi-double jeopardy” existed.

Sen. Carolyn Walker, a Phoenix Democrat, agreed that neither Mecham nor Arizonans should be kept in suspense.

“If the governor is exonerated, he ought to know that so he can go on to other things,” she said. “If he’s convicted, then the state shouldn’t have to suffer through this trial another day longer than it has to.”

The five-week-old trial has cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars and virtually paralyzed legislative action.

On radio talk shows and in letters to local editors, many Arizonans have argued that it is a waste of both time and money, since Mecham also faces the criminal trial and a May 17 recall election.

‘Unparalleled’ Publicity

Sen. Jones Osborn, a retired newspaper editor and Yuma Democrat, described publicity surrounding the Mecham case as “unparalleled and unprecedented.”

“I believe that this court should be extremely, extremely careful of not prejudicing the proceedings in Maricopa County Superior Court,” Osborn said in casting his aye vote Wednesday.

“If we make a mistake in this court, I would hope that we would make it on the side of fairness,” he added.

If convicted by a two-thirds majority of the Senate on either charge, Mecham would become the first governor removed from office since 1929.

He was stripped of power, but not title, on Feb. 5 when the state House of Representatives impeached him--the political equivalent of an indictment.

Denies Any Wrongdoing

Mecham has denied any wrongdoing and built his defense around a conspiracy theory, contending that political foes and a biased media had set him up.

House prosecutors have attempted to portray the former Pontiac dealer as incompetent, paranoid and devious.