Mecham’s New Campaign Splits GOP in Arizona

If the political career of former Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham were a movie, for many Arizonans it would be the latest Rambo sequel, with Mecham as the gung-ho hero, back again in the electoral underbrush to wage war on those who threaten such “true American values” as motherhood, apple pie and the right to school prayer.

For many others, however, it would be an episode of the horror film “Friday the 13th,” with Mecham as Jason, the monster who, time after time, is stabbed, slashed, drowned, burned, buried and seemingly vanquished, only to return to life in time to wreak havoc in the next sequel--or in Mecham’s case, the next gubernatorial election.

Either way, Mecham, 63, the bad boy of Arizona politics, the standard-bearer for ultraconservatives and the nation’s first governor to be impeached and convicted in 60 years, is back for his sixth try at the state’s highest office, and as the movie trailer says: “This time it’s personal.”

The former auto dealer gave notice just how personal last year, when his forces, led by his Forward Arizona Political Action Committee, ousted a number of fellow Republicans on his hit list. Among them were the state Senate leader and the state House Speaker, men Mecham charges with engineering his impeachment, leading to his conviction in April, 1988, after only 15 months in office.

Grab Leadership Positions

At the same time, his supporters and what Mecham calls “people of like mind” grabbed the lion’s share of the state’s Republican Party leadership positions. The posts they took included the chairs of Maricopa and Pima counties, which represent nearly 80% of Arizona’s population.

Although Mecham was removed from office on charges of concealing a $350,000 campaign loan and obstructing an investigation, he certainly has not been removed from Arizona politics. His refusal to bow out quietly has thrown his party into disarray and cast a shadow over its prospects to reclaim the governor’s office in 1990, one year before the governor and the state Legislature do battle over the state’s political reapportionment.

Republicans of almost identical conservative bent find themselves divided over Mecham.

Issue Polarizes People

“I don’t say the party is completely gone, but there are big cracks in it,” said Joe Lane, a political consultant and the House Speaker for 10 years before Mecham’s forces defeated him last year. “People tend to polarize. They’re either anti-Mecham or pro-Mecham. You can’t be a little bit Mecham and a little bit the other way.”

Many Republicans fear the consequences of this bickering and infighting could be that--in a state where they outnumber registered Democrats by 3 to 2 and where GOP activity is at its zenith--Arizona could end up with a Democratic governor for four more years, and, after reapportionment, a Legislature with Democratic majorities.

Thus, the question on many Republican lips is: “What are we going to do about Mecham?”

Answering is difficult. On one side, Mecham stands as the undisputed champion of many conservative and ultraconservative Republicans. His core group--mainly Christian fundamentalists and some Mormons--is not large, but it is intensely loyal and vigilant, observers said.

“Ten to 20% of the population would vote for that guy if he raped a nun on the courthouse steps,” Lane said. “That’s what makes him effective. His constituency is not large, but his people go to the polls.”

Seen as Powerful

“Like it or not, I feel that Evan Mecham is one of the four or five most powerful individuals in Arizona in terms of his ability to attract attention and influence people,” said Barry Young, program director for popular talk radio station KFYI, which has been extremely critical of Mecham but which recently allowed him to host its evening program for three days because of his celebrity.

On the other side of the GOP split are the more traditional party elite, many just as conservative as Mecham supporters.

“Philosophically, I’m very, very close to Ev Mecham: pro-life, no taxes, things like that,” said Republican House member Jim Skelly, who chaired the impeachment hearings and who had supported and voted for Mecham in every primary but one.

‘Message to Preach’

“I was so hopeful when he came into office. I said, finally I have a guy in here who is my cup of tea. He had the potential to be a great governor. I told him that. I said, ‘You have the great message to preach, that’s conservativism.’

“That made it 10 times as bad for me, impeaching a guy like that who you agree with philosophically, rather than impeaching a liberal.”

But this faction now finds Mecham strident, inflexible, vindictive and incompetent. Even if Mecham should win the primary in a crowded field, these Republicans argue, he does not stand a chance of defeating Democratic Gov. Rose Mofford under the new runoff rules, which require that the victor get more than 50% of the vote. About 200 legislative and congressional leaders and longtime party activists in this group have joined to form the Mainstream Republican Forum. Although they claim theirs is an effort to unite the party, they are largely seen as a stop-Mecham organization.

As the lines have been drawn, the party has begun to flounder. State party Chairman Burton Kruglick admits that fund raising is down about 20%.

Withhold Donations

“The people who support Mecham aren’t giving to the party because they’re giving to (Mecham’s) FAZPAC,” Kruglick said. “On the other side, the people who are afraid he may win the primary and be the beneficiary of what we do are not giving to the party.”

Meanwhile, party officials are finding that their constituencies often greet them with distrust, depending upon which side of the Mecham line they choose.

Attempting to resolve the turmoil created by the pro- and anti-Mecham factions, Kruglick sent Mecham a letter asking him not to run.

“My feeling was that we didn’t need to have the Mecham situation carry over into the 1990 election,” Kruglick said. “If he got involved in running for governor, he would be the issue and the discussion point, instead of why the candidates were running and who were the best candidates that were running. The issues would be overshadowed by Mecham.”

Lambastes Mecham

That became immediately apparent when Fife Simington, a wealthy Republican developer, announced his candidacy last month. He spent half his announcement speech lambasting Mecham and declared that if Mecham won the primary, he would not support him in the general election.

“Does that tell you something?” Kruglick asked with a sigh. “We’ve got people who have said to me that they will change their party affiliation if Mecham runs and wins the nomination.”

Longtime Mecham supporters, like Pima County Republican Party Chairwoman Linda Barber, did not welcome Kruglick’s suggestion that Mecham volunteer to stay out of the race, but they also fear that Mecham could limit the party’s ability to unseat Gov. Mofford, the silver-haired former secretary of state who took over after Mecham was impeached.

“As much as I think of Ev as a person and as a friend . . . I can see that he’s going to be a problem in this race and this election and going to cause some real chaotic times for Arizona,” said Barber, who ran Mecham’s Tucson campaign and gubernatorial offices. “I think he should run, but I am afraid that he will be the issue and the issue should be the future of Arizona.”

In an interview, Mecham dismissed Kruglick’s letter and those concerns

“Burt’s one man,” the former governor said as he relaxed behind a desk in his suburban Phoenix office. “He’s entitled to his opinion. He was just doing what someone told him to do. I am the one person in the state who can unite the Republican Party, because I’m the one who the conservatives will follow. A lot of the others who aren’t so conservative will come along because I’m the best choice they’ve got.”

Backs New Candidates

Mecham says all the talk about divisiveness should not be aimed at him, but at those who impeached him in the first place. He is hoping to reshape the state Legislature in the 1990 campaign by backing new Republican candidates to replace those who voted for his impeachment.

And while he says he is not vindictive, he ticks off his conquests with a certain satisfaction and dismisses each victim or intended victim with a parting barb.

--Former Senate leader Karl Kunasek, who at one time was labeled an apologist for the governor: “Carl worked out OK until he sold me out.”

--Former House Speaker Lane: A “puppet of the power brokers” and a “liar . . . who wouldn’t know the truth if it was taped to his chest.”

--Former state Sen. Jack Taylor, who voted yes on impeachment: “A terrible hypocrite.”

--Skelly, the highly regarded impeachment committee chairman: “A sad sack . . . his own worst enemy.”

--State Sen. John Hays. “He should be a Democrat. He shouldn’t be a Republican. We tried very hard to get John Hays out, but we missed him. We’ll get him next time.”

Regardless of who is to blame for the initial split, Mecham’s foes and even his own observers say that, given his current political agenda, it will be some time before the party is healed.

Party ‘Fractured’

“I think we’re going to look at a fractured Republican Party and a fractured state for years to come because of Evan Mecham, and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way,” said recently elected state Sen. Jerry Gillespie, the Mecham protege who ousted Kunasek. “The pain is so strong on both sides over the impeachment of Evan Mecham that people aren’t going to forget for a long time. There’s a bitterness and hatred there, and I think it’s probably on both sides.

“Evan has done a remarkable job, but I’d like to see it stop right here and someone else come and take over as the conservative champion. The problem is that we don’t have anybody who can do that, so we have to fall back on Evan Mecham.”

There are some Republicans, however, who believe that while Mecham’s presence in the gubernatorial election will cause a great deal of friction, it may ultimately be just what the party needs to overcome its division.

“A lot of people think he should run because that’s the one way that the Arizona electorate will purge itself of Mr. Mecham,” said Pima County chairwoman Barber. “People were put out by the impeachment. The people haven’t had their opportunity to have their voice heard on Ev Mecham. This time, they will elect him or they won’t elect him.”