An elderly Pinnacle West stockholder poked Keith Turley gingerly in the back. At this very moment, Turley was standing nervously at a urinal in a men’s room on the main floor of the Hyatt Regency hotel. “Hi there, Mr. Turley. How are you doing?” Turley, former chairman and chief executive…
Some scenes cling to your mind. They are so powerful that they are impossible to block out. For me, there will always be that remarkable television footage of an enraged Evan Mecham pounding his little fist on the counter at the secretary of state’s office. “You have a Martin Luther…
I write this column assuming you already know that Jimmy Breslin is the best newspaper columnist in the country. During a thirty-year career on various New York papers, Breslin has gotten into all the good fights. He has done so in his own way. He has ridiculed racists and anti-Semites…
Cotton Fitzsimmons is my clear pick for National Basketball Association coach of the year. Nobody comes close. Cotton came back to the Phoenix Suns when they were at the bottom. They were reeling from a drug scandal almost entirely created by Ruben Ortega’s police. Their spirit was broken. There was…
Perhaps the most dramatic revelations to come out of the huge savings and loan disaster will come during the trial of Charles Keating. That trial, which will be heard here in Phoenix before U.S. District Court Judge Richard Bilby, still is probably a year away. But now the possibility of…
J. Fife Symington III grew up on a 500-acre estate in the blue-blood Maryland hunt country. There were neighbors with names like S. Bonsal White Jr. and Benjamin Howell Griswold IV. Symington went to Harvard. His father went to Princeton. The family owned a steel mill. Symington is a man…
You’re Rose Mofford, a governor who’s become bored with her job. With eight months more to serve, you’ve become detached and disinterested. Through your own listless and inept performance, you’ve turned yourself into nothing more than a public freeloader. If you do any work for your $75,000-a-year salary, there’s no…
I’d forgotten the sheer madhouse excitement of it all. At the time, it was both energizing and frightful. Governor Evan Mecham electrified the entire state as he took us on a wild, memorable ride through a firestorm of his own creation. During Mecham’s brief period on the stage, which ended…
They are tightening the noose on Bob Barnes’ long-shot campaign to become Arizona’s governor. On Tuesday, April 17, four Republican candidates have been invited to speak to the Lincoln Caucus at the west-side campus of Arizona State University. Barnes is the only candidate who’s been told he’s not welcome to…
Sam Steiger is moving faster than anyone expected. As a result, things have changed dramatically. In the race for governor, the balance of power has shifted. Almost without anyone noticing, Steiger has emerged as a front-runner. At first there was a question whether Steiger could be taken seriously. Now that…
Max Hawkins, the Svengali of Arizona politics, is certain Evan Mecham will be the next governor of Arizona. “It was like a Greek tragedy when the legislature impeached the little guy,” Hawkins says. “And now it’s going to be a Homeric victory when the voters return Evan to office. “You’re…
Maurice “Mickey” McDermott’s golf hat was pulled down over his forehead, but that couldn’t hide the laughter in his big Irish face. Down on his luck for years, the former Boston Red Sox pitcher had won $5.8 million in the Arizona lottery on February 7. McDermott, 62, sat on the…
It’s early morning. Already, the phone is ringing. Bob Barnes, the most unrelenting of the Republican candidates for governor, is calling. “I’m preparing another position paper,” Barnes says tersely. “I’ll drop copies off at both your office and home today. I consider this to be an important document, one that…
Some stories are so rich they tell themselves. So picture chapter two of the Rose Mofford, Terry and Sam Goddard show. “Goddamn it, Rose,” Sam Goddard shouts into the telephone. “Who in the hell you been talking to?” “Wait a min . . . ,” the governor sputters. “How did…
Sam Steiger strolls behind the bar. The place is Penelope Parkenfarker’s sports bar on Cortez in Prescott. This isn’t Whiskey Row. That’s a much-bawdier area on Montezuma. Whiskey Row is two blocks away, fronts the Prescott County Courthouse and is anchored by heroic drinking emporiums like the Western Bar and…
And now for the Super Bowl. Bill Bidwill, inept, incompetent and insensitive, is the single clear reason Arizona has “won” the Super Bowl for 1993. After two full seasons of play in Sun Devil Stadium, it was obvious to other National Football League owners that the Cardinals franchise was turning…
Lute Olson’s arrogant smirk told all you had to know. Last Sunday’s game against UCLA was proceeding according to plan. The Pac-10 tournament final was a blowout for Arizona. And so Olson, the basketball coach with the largest ego west of Bloomington, Indiana, was on his way to a soft…
Writing about Jana Bommersbach’s suspension from her job as commentator on Channel 8 is a tricky piece of business. It is one of those events about which it’s difficult to speak and impossible to maintain silence. First of all, Bommersbach is both a friend and fellow worker, as well as…
The first thing that used to catch your eye when you walked to the rear of Ed Markgraf’s Pharmacy were those life- size black-and-white photographs of Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, and James Dean. Bogart and Dean . . . movie heroes of the Fifties . . . remnants of the…
Sam Steiger pulled off his coat and grinned as he collapsed onto the bench under the big tree. He was wearing broad red suspenders that matched his broad red tie. It was certain now. Steiger was in the race for governor. He would make a formal announcement in the next…
Larry Debus is perhaps the highest-profile criminal defense lawyer in town. He draws more than his share of the big criminal cases. His batting average is extremely high. Walk into court with Debus at your side and your chances of walking out a free person are excellent. Debus is one…
“I had rather be a dog than the prime minister of a country where the only things the inhabitants can be serious about are football and refreshments.” –George Bernard Shaw The real political infighting never changes. We never learn about the brutal behind-the-scenes business until too late. But this time…
