Lonnie Smith, 67, was working as a janitor when he heard that his wife’s ticket had won the lottery. Smith had been employed by the same Phoenix company for more than thirty years. The lottery ticket which his wife played was worth $5.8 million. “Will you retire?” I asked. “I…

The simple truth about Terry Goddard is that he is not electable as governor of this state. The fact that he would be a disaster in that role is secondary. Like everyone else who sees through him, I find the mere possibility that Goddard might be our next governor at…

Among the atrocities committed here recently was a vicious police public-relations ploy. Several days after Officer Jim French of the Department of Public Safety shot and killed Jeffrey Dawes, seventeen, the following things occurred. Reporters covering the story received calls from a police officer who told them he had a…

“I want you all to get nice and relaxed,” Willie Smith said. “You’ll play this game of baseball a lot better that way. At least, that’s always been my philosophy.” Smith smiled down at the two dozen or so kids surrounding him on the old ballfield in South Phoenix. None…

Public men grow addicted to the cool eye of the television camera. Once stricken, they reach out desperately for any opportunity to get their faces on the nightly news. You expect this from a Terry Goddard, who grew so eager for television exposure at one time that he spent every…

McCain was transparently nervous being on the same platform with Evan Mecham, the governor he helped to scuttle. Koory bellowed out a speech he’d obviously shouted into his bathroom mirror 78 times that morning to get it just right. It was amazing. Walking into the Republican party convention last weekend…

Bob Corbin still has Charlie Keating’s $50,000 political donation tucked away in his desk drawer. And like all greedy pols, Corbin doesn’t show the slightest inclination to surrender one dollar of it. A couple of years back, Keating passed the money to Corbin for a governor’s campaign that never materialized…

While Don Bolles, the Arizona Republic reporter, lay dying in the hospital, Mickey Clifton, a lawyer, hurried to see John Harvey Adamson, the man who planted the bomb under Bolles’ car. “John was in terrible shape,” Clifton said of Adamson. “He was drinking heavily. He was also on Valium. I’d…

In Arizona, everyone seems to have a dream about buying land and making a fortune. Some do. Most don’t. Timing is an important element. Political influence is even more important. Personally, I’ve always found tales about land deals tedious. So I will keep this to a minimum. Rest assured, however,…

It was early Saturday afternoon in Scottsdale Memorial-North Hospital. Saturdays are quiet times in hospitals. The operating rooms are closed down. The business office is shut. The doctors make brief morning visits. It’s a time when the real power of the hospital shifts into the hands of minor bureaucrats and…

I got to Beth Israel Cemetery an hour early. Brad Funk’s coffin was already sitting under a canopy near the main gate with an American flag draped over it. About fifteen minutes before the service was scheduled to begin, the crowd arrived. They came in flashy cars that formed a…

I browse through the Arizona Republic’s editorial pages every morning. I feel obligated to undergo this test of concentration. The alarums of the editorials prepare me for any challenges General Noriega or General Motors might place before me the rest of the day. Where else in American journalism would you…

Stately, plump Bill Bidwill moved in regal fashion past the food line in the press box at Sun Devil Stadium last Saturday. Mexican food was being dished up. Bidwill’s hands remained at his sides, however. The Phoenix Cardinals owner did not reach for a platter. “Have a plate of food,…

You’re John McCain, a fallen hero who wanted to become president so desperately that you sold yourself to Charlie Keating, the wealthy con man who bears such an incredible resemblance to The Joker. Obviously, Keating thought you could make it to the White House, too. He poured $112,000 into your…

The uproar over Gene Stallings’ departure is just one more indication that Phoenix remains a hick sports town. As a coach, Stallings was a loser. The Phoenix Cardinals will survive. They may not get any better, but they won’t be any the worse for his leaving. There’s a revolving track…

Bill Frieder clearly has a retarded person’s view of modern communications. Frieder is too dense to realize those cute and self-serving remarks that he makes to sportswriters from New York and Detroit have the ability to bounce back to Arizona within minutes. So when Arizona State University’s new basketball coach…

If you are a young nurse in a big hospital, most days have a tedious sameness. But the tension never leaves. You learn to walk fast. You rarely stop to make small talk in the hallways. There’s always too much to accomplish and not enough time. You knock softly on…

Why does Bob Corbin, our clownish attorney general, lead such a charmed life? Five United States senators are currently battling against disgrace because of massive campaign contributions from Charlie Keating, “The Bluebeard of American Finance.” But Corbin, who accepted proportionately greater sums of Keating’s largess, remains untouched by criticism. He…

Arizona sinks deeper every day that Rose Mofford remains in the governor’s office. In fairness to the voters of the state, Governor Mofford should announce immediately her intention to step down at her term’s conclusion. Some truths about the state’s sinking condition cry out to be heard. After all, we…

A. Bartlett Giamatti, baseball’s late commissioner, wrote the following words about the game while he was still teaching at Yale University: ” . . . It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling…

It was the kind of press conference reporters show up for even when they’re not working. They put on their best suits and get their shoes shined. They make sure they have fresh batteries in their tape recorders. Senator John McCain had promised to give his version of Richard Nixon’s…