Year: 1995

Governor Fife Symington threatened to sue New Times last week over a story stating that he had paid a kickback in connection with a $10 million pension fund loan for his failed Mercado minimall in downtown Phoenix.In a written response to the New Times story (“Paying the Piper,” October 5),…

Flashes Putting on Heirs Some politicos have scratched their heads over the hubris of Governor J. Fife Symington III’s bankruptcy. Why would an ambitious man like the Fifester–anascent nova in the national firmament of states’-rights space cadets–run his political career aground in such a public way? Well, the bean-counters tell…

Governor J. Fife Symington III apparently prepared conflicting financial statements in 1990–one showing that he personally controlled blue-chip stocks worth nearly $800,000; the other indicating that the stocks were controlled by a family trust. At least one of the sworn statements appears to be inaccurate. It is a crime to…

On January 11, 1994, Attorney General Grant Woods announced the dramatic culmination of an intense criminal investigation. “We allege that hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen from elderly people who could not care for themselves,” Woods told the media. “They were dependent on Wayne Legg and Webber Mackey to…

The Mesa Fire Department’s September 26 shutdown of the explosion-riddled TRW air-bag manufacturing plant on East Germann Road ended almost as quickly as it began. Just 48 hours after ordering the plant closed, fire officials announced that all was well, that a 15point plan for safety improvements had been hammered…

Le Big MacFor two years, a federal grand jury has investigated Governor Fife Symington’s business dealings. The state’s chief executive is suspected of being the Mac Daddy of phony financial statements. Financial statements are the backbone of all loans, credit lines, investments, partnerships, debt restructuring, write-downs and all the other…

Waiting for the Grapevine.Squaw Peak Parkway is a good place to sell papers because of the shade underneath and all those working people who drive it. The motorists are potential customers who spill into idle formation as they wait to head east on Thomas Road where Chris and Michelle, the…

Illegal immigrants have been flocking to the orchards of Chandler Heights for more than a decade. The immigration authorities continue to ignore the crime and suffering there. The man who calls himself “Pedro” inches his white Ford van off Power Road into a littered dirt clearing between two orange groves…

I’ve never liked guns. Not based on any bleeding-heart-liberal point of view, but simply because they always seemed to be more or less evil. They’re designed to kill things, and though I’ve certainly enjoyed indulging a variety of destructive urges over the years, killing was never high on my list…

Like life, death is full of surprises. Ten months ago, who could have guessed that Jerry Garcia, Elizabeth Montgomery, Eva Gabor, Mickey Mantle and Orville Redenbacher would pass from this mortal coil during 1995? Not me, sad to say. However, I’m happy to report that I did have money on…

Ellen and Joel Barish worked all their lives to buy their $400,000 house in Troon Country Club in 1990. It was a brand-new, 4,000-square-foot home on the edge of the desert near Pinnacle Peak. Now their dream home is a wreck, Ellen Barish is bankrupt, they owe $155,000 in legal…

Upon entering the Maricopa Association of Governments’ retreat early in September, each MAG councilmember received a few note cards and several small, adhesive-backed green dots. On the cards, they wrote problems they saw in the operations of the group; the notes were posted on a board at the front of…

A partnership headed by J. Fife Symington III made an apparently illegal payment to a pension fund investment manager who agreed to make a $10 million loan to a troubled Symington development, public records obtained by New Times reveal. The $10,000 kickback was paid in connection with a loan that…