Fife Symington

John Fife Symington III (born August 12, 1945) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 19th governor of Arizona from 1991 until his resignation in 1997 following convictions on charges of extortion and bank fraud, which were later overturned. A member of the Republican Party, Symington served in the United States Air Force and was stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona prior to entering politics. Linked to the Symington family, He is the son of J. Fife Symington Jr., the United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago during the Nixon administration, the cousin of Stuart Symington, a United States Senator from Missouri, and the younger brother of Martha Frick Symington Sanger, an author.

A native of New York City, Symington attended the Gilman School in Baltimore; he subsequently graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Dutch art history. Symington comes from a political family: his father, J. Fife Symington Jr., served as Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago; his cousin Stuart Symington was a U.S. Senator from Missouri. After joining the Air Force in 1967 and achieving the rank of captain, Symington was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service. He was honorably discharged in 1971. He remained in Arizona and became a real estate developer, founding his own company, the Symington Company, in 1976.

Symington was elected to the governorship in 1990 over Democratic Mayor of Phoenix Terry Goddard, following a close campaign that resulted in a runoff election. During his first term, Symington established charter schools in Arizona by signing sweeping education reform legislation, with the first charter schools opening in the state in 1995. The following year, during his second term, Symington signed legislation to establish the Arizona Water Bank Authority as a separate agency, allowing excess water to be acquired from the Central Arizona Project and banked in Arizona for future necessity. His term in office also oversaw the first temporary closure of Grand Canyon National Park during the federal government shutdown in November 1995. In 1997, Symington was convicted on seven counts of bank fraud, and resigned from office, but the convictions were later overturned. Before the government could retry him, Symington was pardoned in January 2001 by President Bill Clinton, whom he once saved from a rip tide off of Connecticut during his youth.

After his term as governor, Symington left public service and pursued a career as a chef, later co-founding the Arizona Culinary Institute with his business partners Jerry Moyes, Darren Leite and chef Robert E. Wilson. He has been speculated as a possible candidate for another term as Governor of Arizona, as well as considered running for the United States Senate, but has only endorsed candidates since leaving the Governor's office. Symington is also known as a witness to the infamous Phoenix Lights, a mass UFO sighting which occurred in Phoenix, Arizona on March 13, 1997.

Symington was born in New York City, New York on August 12, 1945. Symington comes from a wealthy Maryland family; he is the great-grandson of steel magnate Henry Clay Frick. Symington was born to Martha Howard (née Frick), and J. Fife Symington Jr. who served as United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago from 1969 to 1971 under President Richard Nixon. He is also a cousin to Stuart Symington, who was U.S. Senator from Missouri from 1953 to 1976.

He attended Gilman School in Baltimore, and then went to Harvard University, graduating in 1968 with a degree in Dutch art history. During his time at Gilman, Symington met Thomas Caplan, who would later introduce him to Bill Clinton during college. At 19 years old, Symington rescued an intoxicated 19-year-old Clinton from nearly drowning in a rip tide during a trip to Hyannis Port, Massachusetts near the Kennedy compound. While studying at Harvard, Symington discovered the works of Nobel Prize winner Friedrich Hayek, an economist, social theorist and political philosopher who promoted limited government and free markets. Hayek's work would serve as an influence for Symington's political beliefs in regards to fiscal and taxation policy as governor. Symington was also a supporter of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election against Lyndon B. Johnson. Beginning in 1967, he served in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War, and was stationed at Luke Air Force Base near Glendale, Arizona. In 1971, he was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service, before being honorably discharged. He remained in Arizona and became involved in real estate development, founding his own company, The Symington Company, in 1976. In 1983, he was appointed to Southwest Savings and Loan Association board of directors which was based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Beginning in 1983, one of Symington's projects as a real estate developer, with The Symington Company, was the construction of the Esplanade on 24th Street and Camelback Road, an up-scale office complex that had been built on a former Christmas tree lot. Symington believed it to be the "best location in town for business," and as of 2007, still had his own office on the fourth floor of the building. The financing of the project would later play a part in an investigation in his involvement with Southwest Savings and Loan, which provided the funds with Symington on its board of directors. Symington has stated that the approval of the construction of the Esplanade was significant because nothing over four stories had ever been granted along Camelback Road. The Esplanade took two decades to finish construction, with construction beginning in 1983, and completing in 2003.

Other development projects launched by The Symington Company include the Scottsdale Seville, as well as the Mercado, a shopping complex near downtown Phoenix whose design was influenced by southwestern and Hispanic culture. The Mercado was a concept that originated from Phoenix City Hall, which granted the first ever federal Urban Development Action Grant in Phoenix for the complex, and also owned the land that the Mercado was built upon. The Mercado opened in 1989, but it began facing financial hardships only a few years after its opening. Additionally, in an attempt to finance the construction of the Mercado, Symington repeatedly filed false financial statements, according to a jury in the case that later led to his resignation as governor, to receive a $10 million loan for the project from a group of Arizona pension funds. It was also alleged that Symington threatened to end the lease granted to Arizona State University, the largest tenant at the Mercado at the time, several times between July and October 1991, unless he was released from the $10 million loan. The Mercado loan officially went into default in 1992, with Symington filing for bankruptcy protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

In April 1989, Symington announced his bid for Governor of Arizona in the 1990 election, promising to run the state like a business. Beginning with the initial stages of his campaign, Symington had placed his business expertise and his success as a real estate developer center stage, stating, "What Arizona needs right now is a business mind. The state needs a man who can provide experienced, professional fiscal management to pull it out of its economic crisis. I am that man." In the Republican primary held on September 11, 1990, Symington was opposed by several high-profile career politicians, including former governor Evan Mecham, who had been impeached in 1988 and was attempting to make a comeback. Former U.S. Congressman Sam Steiger, who had previously run for U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 1976 and for Governor as the Libertarian nominee in 1982 also ran against Symington, but placed a distant fourth behind Mecham and State Senator Fred Koory. Despite being portrayed as a liberal by his primary opponents, Symington received nearly 44% of the vote in the primary.

In his election night speech, Symington immediately began his general election campaign message by stating that his Democratic opponent, Terry Goddard, was "a professional politician, a tax-and-spend Dukakis liberal Democrat," and, in contrast, that he was a Barry Goldwater conservative, and "proud of it." At the time, Goldwater was seen as the ideological godfather of the modern Republican Party, and had endorsed Symington's campaign. Symington's father was also personal friends with Goldwater.

In the general election, the Democratic Party nominee was Terry Goddard, who had served as the mayor of Phoenix until February of that year. Goddard is also the son of former Arizona Governor Samuel Pearson Goddard Jr. During the campaign, Goddard had attempted to cast doubt on Symington in the minds of voters by stating that the former businessman could face indictment for his business activities. In response, Symington charged that Goddard had violated the state's campaign finance law by "accepting a law-firm salary while campaigning, without spending the stipulated hours on legal work." One of Symington's campaign promises included a state budget cut of 6%, except for programs related to education and the poor. On election day in November 1990, the presence of several write-in candidates resulted in Symington and Goddard being virtually tied, with Symington ahead by only 4,300 votes. Prior to the election, Arizona had adopted runoff voting in general elections if no candidate received more than 50% of the vote. This came after the controversial Evan Mecham had been elected governor in 1986 with only 40% of the vote. As a result, a runoff was scheduled for February 26, 1991. Both candidates spent a cumulative total of approximately $5 million in the primary, general and runoff campaigns.

Shortly before the runoff occurred, while in Washington, D.C. for a fundraiser, Symington was called before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee by Democratic Senator Howard Metzenbaum, a move that was seen as politically motivated. During the hearing, U.S. Senator Bob Dole accused the Democrats of a political "sneak attack" on Symington, a line which was later used in a Symington campaign commercial. The commercial also depicted Goddard behind bars, as the ad's narrator asks: "How can anyone trust Terry Goddard, when the fact is he's broken the law?" Symington would go on to win the runoff with 52% of the vote. After the extended campaign, Arizona returned to plurality voting for all subsequent gubernatorial elections, making the 1990 gubernatorial election the only statewide runoff election in Arizona's history.

Symington was sworn into office on March 6, 1991, becoming Arizona's fourth governor in five years. Symington's first budget as governor, which totaled more than $3.5 billion, was successfully passed through the state legislature, earning him "high marks" from political analysts at the time, due to its lack of tax increases, as well as for its halting of an incineration project. The project had caused controversy due to the amount of hazardous waste that was being created. Symington also established an extensive review of its human resources management, and created the State Long-Term improved Management Project (known as Project SLIM). The goal of the project was to reduce the size of the state government and decrease spending. Recommendations that were made as a result of the project included methods for improving the hiring process, improving training, providing alternative processes for employee appeals, reducing overall employment, and upgrading the classification, pay, and benefits system, among other suggestions.

While free on appeal, and before receiving a presidential pardon, Symington had attempted to reinvent himself as a private citizen and decided to enroll himself in culinary school. Symington stated of his experience that "It was very educational and very humbling." During his enrollment at the school, Symington had packed a bag of his belongings in case he had to report to Nellis Federal Prison in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 24 hours notice, but this was made moot following his pardon from President Clinton. After graduating from the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Scottsdale, Symington helped to found the Arizona Culinary Institute. The school was co-founded with several other business partners including chef Robert E. Wilson, entrepreneur Jerry Moyes and former president of the Scottsdale Culinary Institute Darren Leite. The vision of the school was to create a small class environment with hands on training, with a specific focus on the traditional French methods of cooking. The school was opened and started its first classes in early 2002 in Scottsdale.

In addition to his time as a student at culinary school, Symington returned to the Esplanade, a real estate development project that he started in 1983 and eventually lost in the investigation of his business practices, and began working as a dessert and pastry chef at an Italian restaurant at the facility. Symington opened the restaurant, called Franco's Italian Caffe, in February 2003 with a business partner, restaurateur Franco Fazzuoli. Symington had previously interned at a restaurant that Fazzuoli owned while attending culinary school.

During an interview with The Washington Post, Symington disclosed that he would rather be a chef than be "making money," and that it was a "great experience." Symington's specialties included tiramisu, as well as a chocolate mousse recipe he created called "The Governor (high taste, low taxes)." Then-Governor Janet Napolitano had supposedly visited Franco's Italian Caffe and finished her meal with "The Governor" dessert on multiple occasions, which was reported by the Tucson Citizen to be the best-selling dessert at the restaurant. The recipe for "The Governor" included "a layer of dense, flourless chocolate cake made with Callebaut dark chocolate from Belgium," and "topped with chocolate mousse, then with another Callebaut chocolate cake with another layer of mousse." Finally, the entire dessert is "drizzled with a chocolate ganache."

In 2007, Symington revealed he was a witness to the Phoenix Lights, the mass UFO sighting that took place on March 13, 1997, when he was governor of Arizona, a decade before this admission. In an interview with The Daily Courier, Symington stated, "I'm a pilot and I know just about every machine that flies. It was bigger than anything that I've ever seen. It remains a great mystery. Other people saw it, responsible people. I don't know why people would ridicule it." He continued, "It was enormous and inexplicable. Who knows where it came from? A lot of people saw it, and I saw it too. It was dramatic. And it couldn't have been flares because it was too symmetrical. It had a geometric outline, a constant shape." As Governor during the Phoenix Lights, Symington stated he would investigate the event, but went on to hold a press conference where he had his chief of staff dress up in an alien costume. He later stated that as a public official he had felt a responsibility to avert public panic and therefore made an attempt to introduce some levity into the situation.

On November 9, 2007, he appeared with a panel of guests discussing their UFO experiences on Larry King Live. A few days later, on November 12, Symington acted as moderator for a UFO press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Other speakers included U.S. and foreign military witnesses and public officials involved in some major UFO cases, such as the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident, 1990 Belgium UFO incident, and 1976 Tehran UFO incident, and heads of some official foreign government UFO investigations, such as Nick Pope in the United Kingdom and Claude Poher of France. They said the phenomenon was quite real, should be taken seriously, and urged the U.S. government to reopen its public UFO investigations. Symington also appeared as a witness of the Phoenix Lights in an updated version of the 2002 UFO documentary Out of the Blue by filmmaker James Fox. Prior to the documentary, Fox helped organize the witness panels for both Larry King Live, and the subsequent National Press Club event.

From his first wife Symington has two children and five grandchildren. His second wife was Ann Olin Pritzlaff, an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church. They have three children and eight grandchildren. He is currently married for the third time.