Bob Kennedy (politician)

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Robert A. "Bob" Kennedy (* 1912/1913 in New Jersey ; † after 1978) was an American mechanical engineer and politician .

Career

Not much is known about Bob Kennedy. Kennedy earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology . In the following years he worked as a teacher, order broker ( English : ordnance procurement engineer ), production manager and most recently as IMA value analyst, responsible for cost controlling of radar and missile telemetry systems. In 1959 he moved from New Jersey to Arizona for health reasons .

Kennedy pursued a political career there. In the 1964 election he was elected as a Democrat to the State Treasurer of Arizona. He served from January 1965 to January 1967. In the 1966 election, he successfully ran for a six-year term on the Arizona State Tax Commission . Kennedy was the only Democrat in Arizona to win the 1966 national election. That same year, 1966, he announced his candidacy for the US Senate in the 1968 election. The Democratic incumbent, US Senator ( Grade 3 ) Carl Hayden , no longer intended to run for election due to age. Kennedy had already suffered a defeat in the 1968 Democratic primary to his challenger Roy Elson. In the following Senate elections in 1968, Republican Barry Goldwater went out of the running as the winner. On January 4, 1971, Kennedy took over the presidency of the Arizona State Tax Commission. Kennedy successfully ran for another term on the Arizona State Tax Commission in 1972.

The Arizona Legislature made changes in the 1960s and 1970s to its state agencies and the officials who were to be elected nationwide by the eligible population of Arizona in the future. In this context, the Arizona State Tax Commission was abolished and the Arizona Board of Tax Appeals was created at the same time . The incumbent State Tax Commissioners should be full-time members of the Board of Tax Appeals until the end of their respective terms of office. The Arizona Board of Tax Appeals then consisted of two divisions, Division 1 and Division 2, each with three members. According to the law, no more than two members of a political party may belong to each division. All future six members of the Board of Tax Appeals should the governor be appointed by Arizona. When the term of elected Republican State Tax Commissioner Waldo DeWitt expired in 1976, then Democratic Governor of Arizona Raul Hector Castro was expected to name him as the only Republican in Division 2. The vacant post could not be filled by any Democrat, as two members of Division 2 were already members of the Democratic Party. The incumbents were Kennedy and appointed in 1976, Democrat Edward Richardson from Tucson ( Pima County ). In order to prevent DeWitt from being appointed, Kennedy converted from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in 1976. Governor Castro was forced to name someone else. His choice fell on the Attorney Morris Kaplan from Phoenix ( Maricopa County ), who took up his post in January 1977. On March 8, 1978 Kennedy changed his party affiliation again, this time back from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. As a reason for his move, he indicated his intention to run for a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission . Kennedy became a problem. The Attorney General of Arizona Jack LaSota following said at the time:

“This language creates an inherent prohibition against both the appointment of three members of the same party and the continued service on the board by a member who has changed his or her party affiliation in a manner that results in all three members being of the same party . ”

“This practice creates an inherent prohibition on both the appointment of three members from the same party and continued service on the Arizona Board of Tax Appeals by a member who has changed his or her party affiliation in a way that results in all three members belong to a division of the same party. "

Under these circumstances, the Democratic Governor of Arizona Bruce Babbitt Kennedy had to call on either to return to the Republican Party or to resign from his post. Since Kennedy was still in his post in mid-October 1978, he must have chosen the first option. If Kennedy had refused at the time, the governor would have had no choice but to take legal action against him. The governor should have asked the Attorney General to obtain an injunction from the Superior Court expressly stating that the post was illegally held and that the culprit would be asked to vacate the post immediately.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Juana Mase of Tucson announced in early April 1978 that she was running for the Democratic nomination for a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission. Tom Patten, the former executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party, announced this two weeks later for another seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Trivia

Kennedy was 53 when he ran for the Arizona State Tax Commission in 1966.

In April 1979, a resigned bank trust officer in Phoenix succeeded Kennedy in Division 2 of the Arizona Board of Tax Appeals.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Bob Kennedy , Tucson Daily, Sep. 8, 1966, p. 12
  2. ^ A b c Bob Kennedy , Arizona Republic, March 23, 1978, p. 35
  3. ↑ 1964 State Treasurer General Election Results - Arizona , uselectionatlas.org
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Bob Kennedy , Arizona Republic, April 7, 1978, p. 86
  5. ↑ a b Bob Kennedy on the OurCampaigns.com website
  6. ↑ Bob Kennedy ( Memento of the original from January 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / aztreasury.gov archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Office of the Arizona State Treasurer
  7. ↑ Navajo Times , Volume 9, Issues 1-26, 1968, p. 13
  8. ^ Tax Administrators News , Volumes 34-37, Federation of Tax Administrators, 1970, p. 27
  9. ↑ Obituary of Waldo DeWitt , legacy.com, May 22, 2010
  10. ^ Obituary of Edward D. Richards , legacy.com, Oct. 7, 2008
  11. ^ Morris Kaplan on the arbitration.com website
  12. ^ Bob Kennedy , Arizona Republic, Oct. 18, 1978, p. 11
  13. ^ Tom Patten , Arizona Republic, April 20, 1978, p. 8
  14. ^ Bob Kennedy , Arizona Republic, Apr. 12, 1979, p. 11
personal data
SURNAME Kennedy, Bob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kennedy, Robert A. (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mechanical engineer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH 1912 or 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH New Jersey , United States
DATE OF DEATH after 1978