Ninety-five years have passed since Arizona started inaugurating governors. A lot of the ceremony has remained the same. As on Jan. 4, the first one had crowds and speeches on the Capitol grounds. Dignitaries got the best seating. The winning governor was a Democrat.
But a few things have changed as well.
Arizona’s first governor, George W.P. Hunt, gave his inaugural speech from the balcony of the old Capitol. The balcony has long since been sealed off and yielded to the pigeons. The building itself is no longer the seat of Arizona government. It’s a museum that has been restored to its original trappings.
Gov. Janet Napolitano’s Jan. 4 swearing in took place on a stage erected in front of the old Capitol. The stage featured big loudspeakers and video screens, looking much like a venue for rock concert. The whole thing cost about $200,000 — with about three-fourths raised by the Governor’s Office from private donors.
Another big difference was in the governor’s arrival.
Hunt walked to his inauguration from a downtown Phoenix hotel. He was sworn in the day Arizona officially became a state, Feb. 14, 1912.
According a 1920 newspaper account, Hunt stood in front of the Ford Hotel and took his private secretary, Mulford Winsor, by the arm.
According to the article, Hunt said: “Come on, Mulford, it’s time to go.”
The account added: “A few minutes later, from the balcony of the state house, and in the presence of the mammoth crowd, George W.P. Hunt made his inaugural address, and Arizona entered her career as a state.”
The article compared Hunt to Thomas Jefferson, who walked to his 1801 inauguration as president at the Capitol from his Washington boarding house, and walked back for dinner. Jimmy Carter walked from the White House to the Capitol for his 1977 inauguration.
For Arizona, however, Hunt’s walk was not exactly precedent setting. It was the only time Hunt himself hoofed it from downtown for his inauguration. And he had seven of them. But he reportedly tipped the scales at 300 pounds and apparently came to appreciate the convenience of the automobile.
For Arizona’s 19th governor, the walk was little more than half the length of the Capitol courtyard, maybe 100 yards or so. The plaza itself was flanked by bleachers set up for the occasion. More people where seated in the plaza itself.
Roses removed
To make room for them, roses were removed from gardens between the House and Senate. The small plots were then covered with plywood.
“Those roses were planted in the memory of Polly Rosenbaum,” said Jeanine L’Cuyer, Napolitano’s press secretary.
They were removed by an expert and will be replanted, she added.
“They’ll be the same roses,” she said.
This was Napolitano’s second inauguration as Arizona governor and — with term limits — will be her last. Like her first, things went smoothly this time around. Most of Hunt’s many inaugurations went smoothly as well, except for a dust-up in 1917.
1916: 1 election, 2 ‘winners,’ 1 fight
The 1916 election, it turns out, had two winners — Hunt and his Republican opponent, Tom Campbell. Well, both of them claimed to have won.
Campbell seemed to have the edge, however, when the secretary of state declared him the winner. But, two days before the official Jan. 2 inauguration, Hunt tried to beat Campbell to the punch by swearing himself in for another term.
On inauguration day, though, Campbell showed up and took the oath of office. But he couldn’t get in his office, according to a summary of events lifted from the old Arizona Republican newspaper. The summary was on file at the Arizona Collection of State Library, Archives and Public Records Department.
Here’s the Jan. 2 entry: “Campbell inaugurated. Refused admittance to his office. New executive to demand entry again today. G.W.P. Hunt, incumbent up to yesterday, pleads the holiday custom of closing state offices and remains away from Capitol.”
Hunt made sure Campbell didn’t try to pick the locks or break down the door, the summary said. He posted 50 National Guardsmen and civilians armed with Springfield rifles — “prepared to prevent the entrance of the new governor.”
Campbell was locked out until Jan. 28, when the Supreme Court seated him and tossed out Hunt. The court, however, later ruled in Hunt’s favor and he was back in business before year’s end.
Governor Napolitano should have no problem getting back into her office, unless she misplaces her ninth-floor pass card.