 | History of Arizona: Encyclopedia II - History of Arizona - Recent events
History of Arizona - Recent events
In recent times, Arizona has become a major warm-weather tourist and retirement destination, much like Florida. A major part of the tourism industry is based on the presence of the Grand Canyon.
In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Arizona over California in a dispute over Arizona's share of the Colorado River. Five years after the decision, authorization was given for the construction of the Central Arizona Project, which was not completed until 1991[5].
Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, a native of Arizona, ran for the presidency in 1964, with William Edward Miller as his running mate. Due to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Goldwater found himself in the difficult position of running against the successor to a slain president, and was soundly defeated by Lyndon B. Johnson. Goldwater received only 38.4 percent of the popular vote and the electoral votes of just five states, including 5 from Arizona.
In 1988 Evan Mecham[6], the Governor of Arizona, was impeached. Mecham faced allegations of money laundering, including trying to conceal a $350,000 campaign loan, borrowing $60,000 of state money to prop up his struggling auto dealership, as well as allegations of attempting to block the investigation of a death threat made by a state official. Rose Mofford succeeded him as the Governor of Arizona, becoming the first female ever to hold the office.
Mecham had already been unpopular for his cancelation of a paid Martin Luther King Day holiday for state employees. The holiday had been first proposed in 1972 by former state senators Cloves Campbell. For the first of several times, the legislation had failed to pass, causing Arizona to lose its chance to host the Super Bowl,[7] as well as costing the state tourism and other benefits that naturally come from these events. Governor Bruce Babbitt gave state employees the day off by executive order, but Mecham later voided the order just a week before the holiday was to be celebrated, based on a legal opinion by the state's Attorney General that the holiday had been created illegally.[8]
When the legislation passed in 1989, Rose Mofford signed into law a paid state holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.[9], making it possible for the state to host a Super Bowl. The chair of the Americans for Traditional American Values filed a petition against it, accusing Dr. King of being a socialist and philanderer. The two 1990 ballot initiatives were, respectively, for celebrating both Martin Luther King Day and Columbus Day holidays, and for swapping the Columbus holiday for the King one. Both failed. In 1992, in the face of a tourist boycott and losing the chance to host Super Bowl XXVII, 61% of Arizonan voters publicly approved the payment of state workers on a Martin Luther King Day/Civil Rights Day holiday. It was the 49th state in the Union to approve the holiday, and the first state to have voter approval of allowing state workers to have paid absence on Martin Luther King Day. Super Bowl XXX was later played in Tempe in 1996.
Mofford's successor as governor, Fife Symington, resigned in 1997 after conviction of bank fraud. His conviction was later overturned, and he was subsequently pardoned by President Bill Clinton.
On August 17, 2005,[10] the governors of both Arizona and New Mexico declared an emergency in the Mexico-bordering counties of their states. Both governors cited violence, illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and the inaction of both the U.S. and Mexican governments as reasons for the state of emergency. Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona freed $1.5 million in disaster funds to help the border counties, and Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico freed $1.75 million.
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