PHOENIX: When Rose Mofford was thrown into the role of Arizona’s governor, she was also plunged into a political hailstorm. With her predecessor impeached, a budget deficit and the state refusing to enact the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Arizona was making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
As Republicans and Democrats questioned what the future would bring, the state’s first female governor worked with a steady hand to navigate the tumultuous era and turned out to be the right leader at the right time.
“She was a healing force because she was so well known and trusted,” said Alan Stephens, a Democrat and state Senate minority leader during Mofford’s tenure. “We went through a chaos … but then we went through the restoration and the return to civility.”
Mofford died Thursday at age 94. She was injured in a fall and went to a hospice facility last month, former spokeswoman and longtime friend Athia Hardt said.
A Democrat known for her signature beehive hairdo, Mofford served as governor from 1988 to 1991. She was secretary of state when she took over for Republican Gov. Evan Mecham, who was impeached and removed from office by the GOP-led legislature. Arizona does not have a lieutenant governor.
The state was reeling on many levels when she took office, with a bruised economy and negative headlines over the MLK holiday. Mecham had rescinded his predecessor’s decision to create a state holiday, setting off national outrage against the state that included the NFL canceling an agreement to have the 1993 Super Bowl in Arizona.
Mofford argued that not having the King holiday was hurting the state’s economy, but voters rejected measures in the 1990 election that would have created a paid state holiday.
Mofford finished her predecessor’s term but decided not to run in the 1990 governor’s race. She was succeeded by Republican Fife Symington, who resigned amid a real estate scandal in 1997. His fraud conviction was later overturned.
“Rising through the ranks of state government to our state’s top office, she shattered a once-thought unbreakable glass ceiling and served as an unparalleled role model to many,” said GOP Gov. Doug Ducey, who ordered flags be lowered to half-staff in her honor.