Arizona Gov. Testifies, May Face Impeachment

PHEONIX, Ariz.--Gov. Evan Mecham acknowledged yesterday before a House impeachment committee that he may have told Arizona's top police officer not to cooperate with an investigation of an alleged death threat.

Mecham's statement came only hours after he said he gave no such order to Department of Public Safety Director Ralph Milstead.

The first-term Republican governor was expected to be the committee's final witness.

Speaker Joe Lane said the House could decide by the end of the week whether to impeach Mecham, who also faces a recall election May 17 and a criminal trial March 9 on charges of concealing a $350,000 campaign loan.

"I don't think I've broken any law" or obstructed justice, Mecham told the House select committee.

Yesterday morning, Mecham denied Milstead's earlier testimony that the governor told him not to cooperate with Attorney General Bob Corbin's investigation of an alleged death threat by a state official against a former top Mecham aide.

"I didn't say that," Mecham said. "I'm not going to tell Ralph Milstead what he can do and what he can't."

But in the afternoon, Mecham said in response to a follow-up question "I think I am justified in saying to him [Milstead], 'the attorney general I believe is out to hang me and I'm not going to help him,' and I very well could have said, `You shouldn't help him either.'"

Mecham's appearance before the committee yesterday was his second. On Monday, he had made a statement but refused to answer House lawyers' questions. All questions yesterday were asked by lawmakers.

"I want it all to hang out today," Meacham told the committee yesterday.

House special counsel William French has accused Mecham of obstructing justice in connection with the alleged death threat, of concealing the $350,000 loan, and of misusing state funds by borrowing $80,000 for his auto dealership.