Monday, July 2nd, 2007...9:09 pm
Jim Corbett
Former Tucson Mayor Jim Corbett died this weekend. He served as mayor for only a single term (1967-1971), but he is remembered for his humor and honesty.
Even though he is always refered to as a former mayor, he held two other offices as well. He served in the state house in the 1950’s, helping to pass our state’s first Fair Housing law.
A big blot on his mayoral term was the begining of the urban renewal project that eventually led to the demolition of most of the old downtown neighborhoods. It was something that our city still hasn’t fully recovered from.
His mayoral term ended in a minor scandal when famed journalist Jack Anderson detailed an incident involving a waitress at a Conference of Mayors meeting. He was defeated by Lew Murphy. He decided to make a political comeback a few years later by running for Clerk of the Court. A story he told me and others was that he wasn’t sure how public reaction would be to him running for office. He said that when he was gathering signatures, the first door he knocked on the man said “You should have bitten her higher…” He decided he’d be all right. In that election, he won narrowly (Steve Emerine can correct me on this, I think he beat Bill DeLong), but never again had a serious opponent.
2 Comments
July 3rd, 2007 at 5:05 am
Jim Corbett did in fact beat Bill DeLong for Clerk of the Court (Good memory, Tedski).
The race was close. I think Corbett won by just nine votes.
When asked after the results how he felt about winning by only nine votes, Corbett said, “I’ll be happy to give eight of ‘em back.”
July 3rd, 2007 at 5:33 am
Yes, he beat DeLong, who had been city clerk, in a very close race. In all, Jim served two years in the House, four years on the City Council, four as mayor and 20 as clerk of the Superior Court — a total of 30 years. During much of that time, he also ran Corbett Roofing, which was a union company. His funeral yesterday, private at the request of his family, nevertheless attracted more than 100 people — Democrats, Republicans, judges, office-holders, former elected officials, sports people and friends from the various phases of his career.
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