Mecham Impeachment Hearings

On January 20, 1988, the Arizona House of Representatives opened hearings on Governor Evan Mecham's alleged illegal activities, and on February 8th voted to impeach him. The impeachment trial commenced in the Arizona State Senate, with the Senate acting as the Court of Impeachment, on February 29, 1988 and ended on April 8 of that same year with Mecham's conviction and subsequent impeachment for obstruction of justice and misuse of government funds. The Senate failed to muster the votes necessary to bar the ex-governor from holding elected office in the future, and thus the next several years saw his failed attempts to retake the governorship and win a United States Senate seat.

There are approximately 5,450 pages of transcripts combined into 26 volumes/PDF's representing each of the 26 days of the hearings.

Video of this hearing was originally captured on 2" Quadruplex video tapes by KAET. The original tapes were transferred to U-matic tapes and then to VHS tapes. KAET transferred the original Quadruplex tapes, 1 set of U-matic tapes, and two sets of the VHS tapes to the State Library, Archives and Public Records. Digital copies of the U-matic tapes were created in 2011 by the Arizona State Archives for preservation and continued access. Due to licensing agreement with KAET and other members of the Broadcast Pool Committee, the digital videos are available for viewing at the Arizona State Archives by request only.