Fife Symington
John Fife Symington III is an American businessman and politician who served as the 19th governor of Arizona from 1991 until 1997. Symington, who is a member of the Republican Party, resigned from office in 1997 following convictions on charges of extortion and bank fraud, which were later overturned. Prior to entering politics, Symington served in the United States Air Force and was stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona.
A native of New York City, Symington attended the Gilman School in Baltimore; he subsequently graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Dutch art history. Symington comes from a political family: his father, J. Fife Symington Jr., served as Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago; his cousin Stuart Symington was a U.S. Senator from Missouri. After joining the Air Force in 1967 and achieving the rank of captain, Symington was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service. He was honorably discharged in 1971. He remained in Arizona and became a real estate developer, founding his own company, the Symington Company, in 1976.
Symington was elected to the governorship in 1990 over Democratic Phoenix Mayor Terry Goddard, following a close campaign that resulted in a runoff election. During his first term, Symington established charter schools in Arizona by signing sweeping education reform legislation, with the first charter schools opening in the state in 1995. The following year, during his second term, Symington signed legislation to establish the Arizona Water Bank Authority as a separate agency, allowing excess water to be acquired from the Central Arizona Project and banked in Arizona for future necessity. His term in office also oversaw the first temporary closure of Grand Canyon National Park during the federal government shutdown in November 1995. In 1997, Symington was convicted on seven counts of bank fraud, and resigned from office, but the convictions were later overturned. Before the government could retry him, Symington was pardoned in January 2001 by President Bill Clinton, whom he once saved from a rip tide off of Connecticut during his youth.
After his term as governor, Symington left public service and pursued a career as a chef, later co-founding the Arizona Culinary Institute with his business partners Jerry Moyes, Darren Leite and chef Robert E. Wilson. He has been speculated as a possible candidate for another term as Governor of Arizona, as well as considered running for the United States Senate, but has only endorsed candidates since leaving the Governor's office. Symington is also known as a witness to the infamous Phoenix Lights, a mass UFO sighting which occurred in Phoenix, Arizona on March 13, 1997.
Early life and career
Symington was born in New York City, New York on August 12, 1945. Symington comes from a wealthy Maryland family; he is the great-grandson of steel magnate Henry Clay Frick. Symington was born to Martha Howard, and J. Fife Symington Jr. who served as United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago from 1969 to 1971 under President Richard Nixon. He is also a cousin to Stuart Symington, who was U.S. Senator from Missouri from 1953 to 1976.He attended Gilman School in Baltimore, and then went to Harvard University, graduating in 1968 with a degree in Dutch art history. During his time at Gilman, Symington met Thomas Caplan, who would later introduce him to Bill Clinton during college. At 19 years old, Symington rescued an intoxicated 19-year-old Clinton from nearly drowning in a rip tide during a trip to Hyannis Port, Massachusetts near the Kennedy compound. While studying at Harvard, Symington discovered the works of Nobel Prize winner Friedrich Hayek, an economist, social theorist and political philosopher who promoted limited government and free markets. Hayek's work would serve as an influence for Symington's political beliefs in regards to fiscal and taxation policy as governor. Symington was also a supporter of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election against Lyndon B. Johnson. Beginning in 1967, he served in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War, and was stationed at Luke Air Force Base near Glendale, Arizona. In 1971, he was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service, before being honorably discharged. He remained in Arizona and became involved in real estate development, founding his own company, The Symington Company, in 1976. In 1983, he was appointed to Southwest Savings and Loan Association board of directors which was based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Beginning in 1983, one of Symington's projects as a real estate developer, with The Symington Company, was the construction of the Esplanade on 24th Street and Camelback Road, an up-scale office complex that had been built on a former Christmas tree lot. Symington believed it to be the "best location in town for business," and as of 2007, still had his own office on the fourth floor of the building. The financing of the project would later play a part in an investigation in his involvement with Southwest Savings and Loan, which provided the funds with Symington on its board of directors. Symington has stated that the approval of the construction of the Esplanade was significant because nothing over four stories had ever been granted along Camelback Road. The Esplanade took two decades to finish construction, with construction beginning in 1983, and completing in 2003.
Other development projects launched by The Symington Company include the Scottsdale Seville, as well as the Mercado, a shopping complex near downtown Phoenix whose design was influenced by southwestern and Hispanic culture. The Mercado was a concept that originated from Phoenix City Hall, which granted the first ever federal Urban Development Action Grant in Phoenix for the complex, and also owned the land that the Mercado was built upon. The Mercado opened in 1989, but it began facing financial hardships only a few years after its opening. Additionally, in an attempt to finance the construction of the Mercado, Symington repeatedly filed false financial statements, according to a jury in the case that later led to his resignation as governor, to receive a $10 million loan for the project from a group of Arizona pension funds. It was also alleged that Symington threatened to end the lease granted to Arizona State University, the largest tenant at the Mercado at the time, several times between July and October 1991, unless he was released from the $10 million loan. The Mercado loan officially went into default in 1992, with Symington filing for bankruptcy protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Governor of Arizona
1990 gubernatorial campaign
In April 1989, Symington announced his bid for Governor of Arizona in the 1990 election, promising to run the state like a business. Beginning with the initial stages of his campaign, Symington had placed his business expertise and his success as a real estate developer center stage, stating, "What Arizona needs right now is a business mind. The state needs a man who can provide experienced, professional fiscal management to pull it out of its economic crisis. I am that man." In the Republican primary held on September 11, 1990, Symington was opposed by several high-profile career politicians, including former governor Evan Mecham, who had been impeached in 1988 and was attempting to make a comeback. Former U.S. Congressman Sam Steiger, who had previously run for U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 1976 and for Governor as the Libertarian nominee in 1982 also ran against Symington, but placed a distant fourth behind Mecham and State Senator Fred Koory. Despite being portrayed as a liberal by his primary opponents, Symington received nearly 44% of the vote in the primary.In his election night speech, Symington immediately began his general election campaign message by stating that his Democratic opponent, Terry Goddard, was "a professional politician, a tax-and-spend Dukakis liberal Democrat," and, in contrast, that he was a Barry Goldwater conservative, and "proud of it." At the time, Goldwater was seen as the ideological godfather of the modern Republican Party, and had endorsed Symington's campaign. Symington's father was also personal friends with Goldwater.
In the general election, the Democratic Party nominee was Terry Goddard, who had served as the mayor of Phoenix until February of that year. Goddard is also the son of former Arizona Governor Samuel Pearson Goddard Jr. During the campaign, Goddard had attempted to cast doubt on Symington in the minds of voters by stating that the former businessman could face indictment for his business activities. In response, Symington charged that Goddard had violated the state's campaign finance law by "accepting a law-firm salary while campaigning, without spending the stipulated hours on legal work." One of Symington's campaign promises included a state budget cut of 6%, except for programs related to education and the poor. On election day in November 1990, the presence of several write-in candidates resulted in Symington and Goddard being virtually tied, with Symington ahead by only 4,300 votes. Prior to the election, Arizona had adopted runoff voting in general elections if no candidate received more than 50% of the vote. This came after the controversial Evan Mecham had been elected governor in 1986 with only 40% of the vote. As a result, a runoff was scheduled for February 26, 1991. Both candidates spent a cumulative total of approximately $5 million in the primary, general and runoff campaigns.
Shortly before the runoff occurred, while in Washington, D.C. for a fundraiser, Symington was called before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee by Democratic Senator Howard Metzenbaum, a move that was seen as politically motivated. During the hearing, U.S. Senator Bob Dole accused the Democrats of a political "sneak attack" on Symington, a line which was later used in a Symington campaign commercial. The commercial also depicted Goddard behind bars, as the ad's narrator asks: "How can anyone trust Terry Goddard, when the fact is he's broken the law?" Symington would go on to win the runoff with 52% of the vote. After the extended campaign, Arizona returned to plurality voting for all subsequent gubernatorial elections, making the 1990 gubernatorial election the only statewide runoff election in Arizona's history.