WASHINGTON – A former aide says Evan Mecham, a millionaire automobile dealer who briefly served as Arizona's governor before being removed from office by impeachment conviction in 1988, died Thursday. He was 83.
State Sen. Karen Johnson was Mecham's aide while he was governor and she said Friday that he died after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Mecham, elected to the Arizona Senate in 1960 for a two-year term, ran for governor four times before he finally won a three-way race in November 1986.
The Republican was impeached 17 months later by an Arizona House vote and was removed from office when the state Senate convicted him of misusing $80,000 in state funds and obstructing justice.
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