DeConcini, Dennis

Part 1 was recorded on November 27th, 2019 at the Arizona Inn in Tucson, Arizona and it covers the following themes: 

b. 1937 

  • Family history, paternal grandparents moving from Italy to the United States. Maternal family were Mormon settlers in eastern Arizona. Father’s political and legal career. Property development in Tucson. Family connection with Udalls. 

  • Attending college at the University of Arizona. 

  • Trying to win appointment to become Pima County Attorney. 

  • Father’s water company. 

  • Pima County Attorney race continued. 

  • Changes in practice of law between DeConcini’s father and himself. 

  • Friendship with Sandra Day O’Conor, work with Barry Goldwater to lobby for O’Conor’s appointment to the Supreme Court. 

  • Practice of a generalist lawyer. 

  • Real estate law and father’s acquisition of land. Local banking. City growth and changes in land use before and after the Second World War. 

  • Tucson as a child. Growing up near Broadway Village. Academic odyssey across many schools in Tucson and Phoenix. Tucson High experience. 

  • Postwar auto culture and road trips before freeways. 

  • ROTC and military reserve service between Korea and Vietnam. 

  • University of Arizona for undergraduate and law. The Arizona Bar exam. 

  • Remaining in Tucson rather than moving to California. 

This interview was recorded on December 12th, 2019 at the Arizona Inn in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes:

  • Political ambitions as a young man. Family emphasis on public service. 

  • Arizona’s political landscape in the early 1970s.

  • First visit to Washington, D.C. to lobby in early 1960s. 

  • The effects of a political career on family life. 

  • Civility in politics and the beginning of negative campaigning.

  • Door-to-door campaigning. 

  • Conversations with Raul Castro and encouragement to run for US Senate. 

  • War on drugs: anti-drug work as Pima County Attorney, trying to stop low-flying drug smuggling aircraft in the 1970s, tough-on-crime politics of the 1980. 

  • Water law and the Central Arizona Project. Extending the CAP to Tucson. Popularity of the CAP. 

  • Earmarks and getting federal money for Arizona.

  • Campaigning on Indian reservations.

  • Most satisfying appropriations.

  • Relationships with environmental groups.  

This interview was recorded on December 12th, 2019 at the Arizona Inn in Tucson, Arizona.

This interview was recorded on January 28thth, 2020 at the Arizona Inn in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes:

  • Acquaintance with Raul Castro. DeConcini acting as Castro’s Pima County campaign manager. Castro’s move from Arizona Governor to ambassador to Argentina. Policy legacy: Drug Control District for Arizona.

  • Charles Keating and the Keating Five.

  • The role of money in politics.

  • Taking criticism from the press.

  • Controversial votes: voting for Clarence Thomas, Panama Canal. Changing opinions.

  • The importance of lobbyists.

  • Changing position from pro-life to pro-choice.

  • Choosing areas of expertise in policy.

  • Recruiting office staff.

  • Conversations across party-lines. Social life in the Senate. The challenge of being a moderate.

  • Gun policy. Positions that changed across career: gun control, abortion, marijuana decriminalization.

This interview was recorded on February 12th, 2020 at the Arizona Inn in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes: 

  • Relationship with lobbyists as a Senator. 

  • Lobbing career after Senate retirement. How lobbying works, personal experiences, and ethics of lobbying. Finding clients as a lobbyist. 

  • Board service after lobbing, including the Corrections Corporation of America, and Freddy Mac. 

Aengus Anderson