John Charles Keegan | |
---|---|
Judge of Arizona Justice Court (retired) | |
In office 2007 - 2010 | |
Mayor of Peoria,Arizona | |
In office June 3,1997 –January 8,2007 | |
Preceded by | Kenneth Forgia |
Succeeded by | Bob Barrett |
Personal details | |
Born | Tempe,Arizona | February 21,1952
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Lisa Graham Keegan |
John Charles Keegan is a retired judge of the Justice Court in Maricopa County,Arizona. [1] [2] He was Mayor of Peoria,Arizona from June 1997 to January 2007. [3] Keegan served as a commissioned officer in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy and held elected office in all three branches of government. While on the bench,he chaired the Professional Standards Committee [4] and was an outspoken advocate for increased accountability of judges. [5] Additionally,Judge Keegan was a juvenile hearing officer and actively involved in issues of underage drinking,truancy,and other youth offenses. [6]
While he was mayor,Keegan initiated major changes to land use planning,environmental protection,cultural opportunities,and economic development in the city. During this time,the population of Peoria more than doubled,and the city was consistently ranked as one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. [7]
To meet the need of explosive growth in Peoria,Keegan created the first public-private partnership to build a public charter school to increase classroom capacity. [8] At his direction,Peoria instituted an ethics committee for elected officials as well as appointed officers. A program to confiscate illegal weapons on campuses initiated by Mayor Keegan led to reduced violence and increased safety in local schools. [9] In 1999 he was given the Defender of Decency Award by Americans for Decency for his efforts to restrict sexually oriented businesses in the city. Of particular note was the creation of the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts and the Peoria Mountain Park Preserve. [10] Property taxes were lowered four times. In 2005 and early 2006 Keegan was instrumental in raising over $400,000 in equipment,supplies,and cash to assist the City of Long Beach,Mississippi recover from Hurricane Katrina. [11]
Keegan led a successful regional effort of local governments and businesses to protect Luke Air Force Base from encroachment and potential closure through the Base Realignment and Closure or BRAC process by lobbying for state and federal legislation as well as local zoning protection for the base. His meetings with the Secretary of Defense,Secretary of the Air Force,Governor of Arizona,White House staff and congressional leaders ultimately were successful. [12] The Maricopa Association of Governments recognized Keegan in 2001 with the Desert Peaks Award for Distinguished Service for his commitment to regional cooperation. [13] Keegan was instrumental in having the Challenger Center in Peoria,an aerospace and science education organization,officially designated as an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington,D.C.;one of only two such designations in the state of Arizona. [14] In 2005 he led a statewide effort to expand access to the Pentagon Channel for service members in Arizona. [15]
In 1991 to 1995,Keegan served two terms in the Arizona House of Representatives. He was appointed to fill a vacancy created by the Azscam ethics scandal. In the legislature,Keegan chaired the Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee,was Vice Chairman of the Judiciary Committee,and was the first Chairman of the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. He was an active member of several state and local organizations dealing with juvenile crime and formed a collation of prosecutors,police agencies,and school officials to develop legislation and other solutions to the issue. [3] As a member of the House government committee,he was a leading advocate for reform. In 1994 a political opponent accused him of campaign irregularities. No charges were ever brought,although he withdrew from the race for unrelated reasons. The officials charged with conducting the investigation into the allegations,Grant Woods,Arizona Attorney General,and Jane Dee Hull,Arizona Secretary of State and later governor,subsequently endorsed Keegan in his election for Mayor of Peoria. [16]
In 2002,he was a Republican candidate for the United States Congress from the second congressional district in Arizona. [17] Senator John McCain was the chairman of Keegan's congressional campaign committee. In 1996 John Keegan was elected to the Maricopa County Charter Government Commission. The commission was an unsuccessful attempt to modernize the 19th century governance model for the county. [18]
Professionally he was a consulting engineer and small business owner, [19] and is the former president of the Arizona Society of Professional Engineers. [20]
He served on active duty in both the US Army and the US Navy and retired with the rank of Commander USN. Most of his career was in special operations and counterintelligence. He served on active duty during the Vietnam War and Gulf War in the United States. His overseas service was during peace time. In his last several assignments,he was a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS). [21]
Judge Keegan received his undergraduate education at the United States Military Academy,West Point,New York,and Arizona State University,Tempe,Arizona and has a master's degree in planning [3] from the Defense Intelligence Agency graduate program. [22] He completed post-graduate studies in strategic planning at the Naval War College,Newport,Rhode Island,and in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is a graduate of the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Law Enforcement Training Center,in Georgia.
In 2005,the Boy Scouts of America presented John Keegan with the Silver Beaver Award and in 2013 the Silver Antelope Award for "distinguished service to youth." [3] [23] In 2008 he was elected president of the Grand Canyon Council of the Boy Scouts of America,which serves approximately 80,000 youth and adult volunteers throughout Arizona. In this capacity,he has been instrumental in establishing the first Boy Scout troop inside a juvenile correctional facility in the United States. [24] Subsequently,he served scouting as an area president and regional Vice President for Outdoor Adventure. [25] He received the Outstanding Eagle Scout Award in 2013 and the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 2016 and is one of only 16 Eagle Scouts in history to receive both. He is a life member of the National Eagle Scout Association,and a former churchwarden of the Episcopal Church [26] and is a member of the Peoria Masonic lodge. [27] His hobbies include firing his full scale American Civil War mountain howitzer.
Keegan has provided political commentary to local and national radio and television networks such as PBS and NPR as well as commercial networks. [17] He has had articles published by the U.S. Department of Defense,the U.S. Naval Institute magazine Proceedings , [28] and The Artilleryman magazine. Since 1998,he has often written articles on state and local issues for the Arizona Republic ,and numerous local publications. [29]
Keegan's family first came to Arizona during the American Civil War. [30] His grandfather,William Keegan and his great-grandfather,John J. Keegan were both mayors of Globe,Arizona. Additionally,John J. Keegan was a member of Arizona's constitutional convention in 1910. [3]
Judge Keegan's courtroom displayed a large sign with the preamble to the Arizona Constitution:
We the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution. [31]
In 2012 Keegan was inducted by Governor Jan Brewer into the Arizona Veteran's Hall of Fame [32] which "recognizes and honors Arizona veterans who have honorably served their country through military service and who have continued to serve and inspire their fellow citizens with deeds and accomplishments throughout their lifetime." [33]
John Keegan is married to Lisa Graham Keegan, and they have five children. [3]
Peoria is a city in Maricopa and Yavapai counties in the U.S. state of Arizona. Most of the city is located in Maricopa County, while a portion of it in the north is in Yavapai County. It is a major suburb of Phoenix. As of the 2020 census, the population of Peoria was 190,985, up from 154,065 in 2010. It is the sixth-largest city in Arizona in land area and the ninth-largest in population. It was named after Peoria, Illinois. The word peoria is a corruption of the Miami-Illinois word for "prairie fire". It is the spring training home of the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners, who share the Peoria Sports Complex.
Richard M. Romley is an American lawyer and politician. As a Republican, he served as the County Attorney for Maricopa County, Arizona from 1989 to 2004 and again in 2010.
The Arizona state elections of 2006 were held on November 7, 2006. All election results are from the Arizona Secretary of State's office.
Randall Terry Shepard is a former Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court.
Joseph Michael Arpaio is an American former law enforcement officer and politician. He was the Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, losing reelection to Democrat Paul Penzone in 2016.
Lorna Elizabeth Lockwood was an American lawyer and judge who served as justice of the Arizona Supreme Court.
Paul McKinley is the Iowa State Senator from the 36th District. He has served in the Iowa Senate since 2001 and served as Senate minority leader from 2009 until November 2011.
Andrew Peyton Thomas is an American politician, author and former attorney. He was the county attorney for Maricopa County in Arizona from 2004 until April 6, 2010. During his term in office, he was known for his anti-illegal immigrant policies. On April 10, 2012, Thomas was disbarred by a disciplinary panel of the Arizona State Supreme Court for his actions as county attorney.
The Arizona Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the US state of Arizona. Its headquarters are in Phoenix. The party currently controls six of Arizona's nine U.S. House seats, sixteen of thirty State Senate seats, thirty-one of sixty State House of Representatives seats, four of five seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission and three Statewide Executive Offices
Lisa Graham Keegan is an American education reform advocate and the author of the parenting book Simple Choices.
Grant Murray Snow is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Snow was previously a state court judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals from 2002 to 2008.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) is a law enforcement agency in Maricopa County, Arizona that was involved in a number of controversies. It is the largest sheriff's office in the state of Arizona and provides general and specialized law enforcement to unincorporated areas of Maricopa County, serving as the primary law enforcement for unincorporated areas of the county as well as incorporated cities within the county which have contracted with the agency for law-enforcement services. It also operates the county jail system. Elected in 2016, Paul Penzone is the current sheriff of Maricopa County. Penzone replaced Joe Arpaio after his 24-year tenure as sheriff.
Wickenburg Unified School District #9 (WUSD) is a school district headquartered in Wickenburg, Arizona.
Karen Fann is a former Republican member of the Arizona Senate, representing Arizona Legislative District 1. Fann became President of the Arizona Senate in 2019, and served until 2023.
Weedville is a populated place inside the city limits of Peoria in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Weedville is in pockets of unincorporated land under the jurisdiction of Maricopa County. For all census and demographic purposes, Weedville is now considered part of Peoria, since it is inside the city limits.
Greenwood Memory Lawn Mortuary & Cemetery is the official name given to a cemetery located at 2300 West Van Buren Street in Phoenix, Arizona owned by Dignity Memorial. The cemetery, which resulted as a merger of two historical cemeteries, Greenwood Memorial Park and Memory Lawn Memorial Park, is the final resting place of various notable former residents of Arizona. Pioneers, governors, congressman, government officials, journalists, race car drivers, soldiers, actors and actresses are among the many notable decedents who are interred in the cemetery.
Helen Purcell served seven terms as the County Recorder for Maricopa County, Arizona. First elected in 1988, Purcell is a member of the Republican Party, and served until 2017.
John C. Giles is an American politician serving as the 40th mayor of Mesa, Arizona. A Republican, Giles previously served as a member of the Mesa City Council from 1996 to 2000. Giles was elected mayor of Mesa in a 2014 special election following the resignation of Mayor Scott Smith.
The 2018 Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, concurrently with the election of Arizona's Class I U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.