Who are the eight Governors that were impeached and convicted?
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was removed from office yesterday, becoming the eighth state Governor impeached, tried in the legistlature, convicted, and removed from office.
Who were the other seven, and what did they do?
(1) 1871 – William Woods Holden, Governor of North Carolina; impeached for using state militias to effectively battle the Klu Klux Klan when other Souther Governors did nothing to stop them (impssed martial law in two counties in 1870 and suspended habeas corpus for Klan leaders). After impeachment, President Grant eventually appointed him Postmaster General from 1873-1881 and he’s recognized today as one of the “most intellectual and daring men ever born in North Carolina”.
(2) 1871 – David Butler, Governor of Nebraska; alleged to have misused $16,000 in state school funds to buy lots of land (in 1877, state legislature realized it made a mistake and expunged the impeachment from the record books)
(3) 1913 – William Sulzer, Governor of New York; unfairly impeached and convicted for actions taken before he became Governor (historians argue his record should be cleared, as he was really impeached and removed because he was an obstacle to the Tammany Hall corruption ring, that wanted him out of office because he stood in the way of corruption)
(4) 1917 – James E. Ferguson, Governor of Texas; for cutting off funds to University of Texas after it would not remove faculty he didn’t like (interestingly, Ferguson went on to run for president in 1920, then became First Gentleman of Texas not once, but twice, when his wife Miriam “Ma” Ferguson won two nonconsecutive terms as Governor herself)
(5) 1923 – John C. Walton, Governor of Oklahoma; illegal collection of campaign funds, padding the public payroll, suspension of habeas corpus, excessive use of pardon power, and general incompetence
(6) 1929 – Henry S. Johnston, Governor of Oklahoma; neglect of duties (Legislature believed his personal secretary was making all of the Governor’s decisions)
(7) 1988 – Evan Mecham, Governor of Arizona; obstruction of justice and misuse of government funds
(8) 2009 – Rod Blagojevich, Governor of Illinois; corruption and misconduct in office
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I lived in Arizona at the time & recall that Mecham was really impeached for being a crypto racist & homophobe.
Adagioforstrings,
Can you explain what really happened? What was the scoop at the time?
As I recall, the media & his political opponents went over with a fine toothed comb anything that Mecham &/or his associates said & inferred the worst. The 3 things that I remember off the top of my head being cited: (1) his administration approved a history textbook that included the word “pickaninny”; (2) Mecham, himself, referred to an African American as the “best cotton picking man for the job”; (3) Mecham described the response from potential Japanese investors to the fact that Arizona had so many golf courses “that their eyes grew round”.
My hypothesis is that everyone hated Mecham, including his own party, because he was a political outsider who didn’t work up through the ranks. He started out as a usesd car salesman, which was used to further discredit his reputation.
I haven’t heard that song in a really long time. One of John Denver’s best.
As the indictments continue, I hope Blago sings like a canary…..or Mary Travers. (Get Well Mary!)
wow adagioforstrings, he sounds like a real “tool”