Impeached Republican ex-Governor of Arizona dies.

Former Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham dies at 83
by Pat Flannery and Amanda J. Crawford (The Arizona Republic, Feb. 22, 2008)

Evan Mecham, the feisty, ultra-conservative Pontiac dealer whose turbulent tenure as governor deeply divided Arizona and prompted his impeachment in 1988, died Thursday after a long illness.

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Mecham, who served just 15 months as Arizona's 17th governor, spent the last four years of his life in the dementia unit of the Arizona State Veteran Home, a spokesman for the home said. He was moved to the veteran's hospital in mid-February, almost exactly 20 years from the date he was impeached by the Arizona House of Representatives. On the morning of his death, family members moved him to the hospice, his son said.

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Even some leaders of the impeachment effort now say they harbored reservations about unseating Mecham but were powerless to stop it as his own combative nature and his unwillingness to make peace with political rivals fanned the flames. But one of his chief prosecutors in the 1988 Senate impeachment trial is resolute in his estimation that the historic act was necessary. "He had gotten money for his inauguration, and the county attorney and he had agreed it was improper for him to use it personally," said Phoenix attorney Paul Eckstein, who made the case against Mecham with former Superior Court Judge William French.

Mecham nonetheless loaned his auto dealership $80,000 from the inaugural fund, forming the basis for one of two impeachment charges on which the Senate convicted him. "I believed the impeachment was justified then, and I believe it was justified now," Eckstein said.