The Nation - News from April 8, 1988

A former Arizona congressman and high-level aide to impeached Gov. Evan Mecham was found guilty of extortion in Superior Court and could receive up to five years in prison. Sam Steiger was convicted of threatening a member of the state parole board with the loss of his job as a temporary justice of the peace if he did not vote on parole board matters as directed by Steiger and the ousted governor. Ron Johnson testified that Mecham ordered him to vote against his judgment to retain the Mecham-endorsed head of the parole board.