Ariz. Capitol Hill crew unites behind Goldwater statue
Arizona’s U.S. House and U.S. Senate delegation wants the new statue of former U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater installed on Capitol Hill before Statehood Day in February.
In a letter Wednesday to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake and all nine of the state’s U.S. representatives asked Boehner to officially approve the request to replace a statue of World War I hero John Campbell Greenway with the Goldwater figure in National Statuary Hall. Each state is allowed two statues; Arizona’s other statue on display is of Father Eusebio Kino, the17th century Jesuit missionary.
The delegation also asked Boehner if the Goldwater statue could be unveiled on Feb. 10, a few days before Arizona Statehood Day on Feb. 14.
“Senator Goldwater was a man of great personal integrity and unblemished honor,” the Arizona delegation wrote in its letter. “He put his country and our founding ideals before himself. He believed we all have a duty to the country, and he performed his duty magnificently, tirelessly, forcefully, effectively, and with a style as honest and wide-open as the state he loved so dearly.”
Goldwater, who died in 1998 at age 89, represented Arizona for five terms in the Senate from1953 to1965 and from1969 to 1987. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Goldwater’s 1964 presidential campaign. Although Goldwater ultimately lost the election in a landslide to President Lyndon Johnson, his clinching of the GOP nomination over moderate rivals such as New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and Pennsylvania Gov. William Scranton is credited with pointing the Republican Party in a more conservative direction that led directly to President Ronald Reagan’s victory in 1980 and continues today.
The Goldwater statue was sculpted by Sonoita artist Deborah Copenhaver Fellows and since March 31 has been on display at the Arizona State Capitol. In June, the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, which has been overseeing the project, announced that $65,000 to $75,000 still need to be raised to transport the fig- ure to Washington, D.C.
Matt Roberts, a spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Bennett, last week told The Arizona Republic that he didn’t anticipate a problem with the money.
“We’re pretty close on the dough and we are taking steps to get Mr. Goldwater into the (U.S.) Capitol,” he said. “I don’t have an absolute date that we are going to pack him up and send him east, but we anticipate having one very soon.”
Brian Rogers, McCain’s spokesman, said the letter was a pro forma request to Boehner because he is in charge of Statuary Hall.
“The letter was intended to request a space and also get in the queue for a date,” Rogers said. “The requested date is tentative. It could change depending on what the speaker’s schedule is and what Congress’ schedule is.” In other developments: » Retiring U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, ROkla., isn’t giving his friend McCain, RAriz., any advice on whether to run for a sixth term in 2016, but said McCain still has contributions to make.
“John loves to serve, and that’s a very personal decision between him and his wife and his family,” Coburn told The Republic Friday before appearing with political humorist P.J. O’Rourke as a keynote speaker at a Goldwater Institute dinner in Phoenix. “He really is full of energy. He has the physical capability to serve and the mental acuity to serve. The question is, does he want to?”
McCain, who would turn 80 before Election Day 2016, has invited supporters to a Nov. 6 breakfast event during which he intends to discuss his thoughts on re-election.
» McCain and longtime co-author Mark Salter have a new book coming out on Nov. 11.“Thirteen Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War” offers profiles of men and women who saw combat in U.S. conflicts from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War to the Persian Gulf War, the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War. McCain will sign the book Nov. 17 at Changing Hands Bookstore, 6428 S. McClintock Drive, Tempe.