Rose Perica Mofford

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Rose Perez Mofford (June 10, 1922 – September 15, 2016) was an American civil servant and activist whose career in the Democratic Party spanned 51 years.

Mofford, a secretary who began her career in Arizona, rose to become the state's first female governor and the first female governor.

Early life

Rose Perica, the youngest of six children, was born in Globe, Arizona, on June 10, 1922. Frances (Oberstar) and John Perica, her parents, had immigrated to the United States from Croatia and became part of Austria-Hungary, and she and her grandmother, Frances (Oberstar) and John Perica. She was the first female class president of Globe High School, and she excelled in both academics and athletics. She competed in basketball and was an All-American softball player.

She graduated 1939 as class valedictorian and, on her father's recommendation, she turned down a chance to play competitive basketball with the All American Red Heads.

Later life

Mofford devoted her time after leaving office to civic and charitable causes. She served as chair of Attorney General Terry Goddard's failed 2010 election bid for Governor of Arizona, despite her. She worked with former Arizona lawmaker Leo Corbet to assist Arizona residents in receiving organ transplants under Arizona's state health care system. She often went to elderly care homes, washed, sorted, and donated clothing to homeless charities until she was 91.

And after she resigned from office, Mofford was seen as a mentor to many Arizona politicians. She would often use her political experience to help others climb to the top of the charts. After starting a career as a gubernatorial employee, former Senator Dennis DeConcini remembers calling Mofford for help. According to DeConcini, Mofford would call and tell him that he had "opened a lot of doors."

Mofford was on the Republican presidential ballot in Arizona in 2004, which was in favor of then-US Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign. Last year, incumbent President George W. Bush claimed Arizona.

"I attribute my happiness in life to my roots, faith, and my Rolodex," Mofford said in a 2010 interview. She began working in government in 1940 and ended up with 4,000 contacts.

Personal life

Thorald Robert "Lefty" Mofford, a captain with the Phoenix Police Department, married Rose Perica in 1957. The couple divorced after a decade but remained close friends until his death in 1983; Rose Mofford kept Lefty's surname. They did not have children, and Rose Mofford's marriage was never remarried.

Mofford has been described as a devout Catholic. Both in politics and as a leader, she cites religion as a driving factor in her triumph. She contributed to the Missionaries of Charity, a charity established by Mother Teresa. Her devotion to her faith made her more popular among Arizonians.

Mofford was admitted to a hospice on August 31, 2016 after falling at her house. She died on September 15, 2016, at the age of 94. Governor Doug Ducey said "rising from the ranks of state government to our state's top office, she [Mofford] shattered a once-unbreakable glass ceiling and served as an unsurpassed role model to many.

A new grave marker for Mofford's grave was unveiled in 2017, which included photos of her meeting Pope John Paul II in 1987 and 1989; those meetings were some of her favorite times as governor.

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Career

Mofford started her career as a secretary for State Treasurer Joe Hunt after high school. She was eighteen when she first started working for him and earned $125 a month. When Hunt was promoted to the Arizona Tax Commission, Mofford followed her boss to her new position two years ago. In 1945, she left the Tax Commission and became the business manager for Arizona Highways, a state magazine. Mofford served as executive secretary of the Tax Commission in 1947. Following Hunt's retirement in 1960, Thad Moore, the new commissioner, fired Mofford, saying, "we felt it was safer to have a man in that position." Following her removal from the Tax Commission, Mofford was appointed as an executive secretary by Secretary of State Wesley Bolin. She remained in the Secretary of State's office until 1975, when she became assistant director of the State Revenue Department (formerly the Tax Commission).

Secretary Bolin ascended to the governorship after Governor Ral Castro declared his resignation to become Ambassador to Argentina. There is no lieutenant governor of Arizona; the secretary of state is first in the line of succession to the governorship if retaining office by election. Bolin had approved Mofford to serve the remainder of his term as Secretary of State.

Bolin died in office on March 4, 1978. Despite the fact that Mofford served as Secretary of State, she did not seek the governorship by appointment, so she did not rise to the governorship; instead, Attorney General Bruce Babbitt became governor. At the end of the term, she ran for a full term as Secretary of State and was elected. She was reelected in 1982 and 1986. In 1982, she won by a large 2–1 ratio and then went unopposed in 1986. Mofford became known in the state capital as the friendly woman with a beehive hairdo, and her office earned a reputation as a reliable service. She was punctual, answering her own phone and replying directly to her mail. She served as president of the National Association of Secretaries of State from 1982 to 1983. In addition to her state service, she served from 1982 to 1983.

Members of both groups of traditional Republican Arizona, Democrat Mofford, was well-liked by members of both parties. She was a bipartisan leader with a tendency to veto or vice versa.

On February 8, 1988, Governor Evan Mecham was impeached. His powers were suspended as a result of the Arizona Constitution, and Mofford became acting governor. Although most observers lauded her on the job she did, Mecham protested the dismissal of the one state department head who had been named. On April 4, 1988, Mecham was found guilty of two of four articles in the impeachment trial and booted out of office. Despite the fact that Article V, Section 2, of the Arizona Constitution, mandated that all state office holders must be male citizens, Mofford was sworn in as Governor for the remainder of Mecham's term. Arizona voters approved Proposition 103 on November 8, 1988, removing the gender-specific standard for office.

At first, Mofford was expected to have had a turbulent transition to the governorship, after the failed real estate market and a large deficit remained from the previous administration.

Governor Mofford's primary aim as governor was to restore order to Arizona. Some believed it was her job as governor to fix the state, but others believed it was her job. Mofford was also known for her ability to resolve racial division in Arizona, which some believed was a problem under Mecham. Following the tumultuous impeachment and recall hearings of her predecessor, her attempts were widely held as having a calming effect. "What she did was reinvest the system with dignity and reverence," state Senate Democratic Leader Alfredo Gutierrez said of her behavior. During her time in office, Mofford was one of only three female governors in the country.

In Arizona, Mofford fought for higher bonding standards and increased funding for mental health services. She voted in favor of civil rights in Arizona schools and regarded herself as a champion for civil rights. Mofford, who is well-known for her love for athletics, developed a funding mechanism to keep Major League Baseball's Cactus League in the state. She initiated the Governor's Alliance Against Drugs, the Governor's Youth Commission Against Drugs, and oversaw the establishment of the state's first Drug Prevention Resource Center. The governor created a task force to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic around the country as a symptom of national fear; at this moment, the HIV/AIDS epidemic was thought to be ignored by politicians around the country. Mofford tried to increase political leadership for women in the state by naming more minorities and women to commissions, boards, and courts than any other former Arizona governor.

Mofford argued for the re-establishment of Martin Luther King Day as a paid state holiday; under her predecessor, this holiday had been postponed. After she had left office in 1992, the holiday was eventually revived by popular vote.

Mofford wrote in 1988 that she opposed a bill prohibiting abortions in the state (except in exceptional circumstances), arguing it was unconstitutional. The state legislature rejected the proposed bill by a single vote.

Mofford's soaring success in the state until she commuted two murder convictions in 1989, but her fame was diminished when she resumed two murder convictions; convicted murderers James Hamm and Carl Kummerlowe were able to obtain early parole under her commutations, which she later tried to rescind.

In early 1990, Mofford revealed that she had decided not to run for office to a full four-year term. Fife Symington took over her place. Mofford told reporters in 1990 that she wished to be remembered "as a caring governor" because "I cared about everybody in Arizona."

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