Max Hawkins, Mecham ally, dies at 78

Max Hawkins, whose write-in candidacy for governor in 1990 forced an unprecedented runoff, has died in Henderson, Nev. He was 78.

Hawkins served in the late Gov. Evan Mecham’s administration as Arizona’s finance director and then as director of the state Department of Administration. Mecham, who was impeached and removed from office in 1988, died in 2008 at the age of 83.

Hawkins, as a write-in candidate under a Stop Abortion label, garnered 1 percent of the vote, nearly 11,000 votes, forcing a runoff between Republican Fife Symington and Democrat Terry Goddard. A runoff, which Symington won, was required at the time because no candidate had attracted at least 50 percent of the vote.

The runoff provision, enacted after Mecham won a three-way race in 1986 with less than 40 percent of the vote, was repealed before the next general election.

Services for Hawkins are scheduled for Sept. 18, at 2 p.m. at the First Christian Church, 805 N. Country Club, Mesa. Hawkins, who was born in Mesa, died Aug. 4.