Governor
In 1892, Turney sought the Democratic Party's nomination for governor, hoping to replace incumbent Governor Buchanan. He quickly gained the support of the party's Bourbon and pro-business factions, who had grown frustrated with Buchanan's handling of the Coal Creek War. Buchanan, lacking the support to win renomination, withdrew from the party to run as an independent, and Turney coasted to the party's nomination. In the general election, Turney was elected governor with 127,247 votes to 100,629 for the Republican candidate, George Winstead, 31,515 for Buchanan, and 5,427 for Prohibition candidate Edward H. East.
Although Turney had issued rulings favorable to the convict lease system as Chief Justice, upon becoming governor, he quickly signed legislation (April 1893) that effectively ended the controversial practice. The legislation called for the construction of a state penitentiary and the purchase of coal and farm lands where inmates would work. This allowed the state to defray the costs of prison maintenance while preventing convict labor from competing with free market labor.
While Turney had resolved the convict lease issue, the Democratic Party was assailed for its ineffective response to the Panic of 1893. In the 1894 governor's race, Republicans nominated Henry Clay Evans, a former congressman who had been gerrymandered out of office for supporting the Lodge Bill. Though Turney painted Evans as a carpetbagger, Evans ran an effective campaign, and the initial vote tally on election day indicated Evans had won with 105,104 votes to 104,356 for Turney, and 23,088 for Populist candidate A.J. Mims. The Democratic-controlled legislature, however, declared voter fraud had occurred, and negated over 23,000 votes, allowing Turney to win the election by 2,000 votes.
Turney never recovered from the fallout from the "stolen" election of 1894. During his second term, he began organizing the state's centennial celebrations, but his efforts were inadequate, and the celebrations were delayed until the Summer of 1897, after he had left office.
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Famous quotes containing the word governor:
“Three years ago, also, when the Sims tragedy was acted, I said to myself, There is such an officer, if not such a man, as the Governor of Massachusetts,—what has he been about the last fortnight? Has he had as much as he could do to keep on the fence during this moral earthquake?... He could at least have resigned himself into fame.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I saw the man my friend ... wants pardoned, Thomas Flinton. He is a bright, good-looking fellow.... Of his innocence all are confident. The governor strikes me as a man seeking popularity, who lacks the independence and manhood to do right at the risk of losing popularity. Afraid of what will be said. He is prejudiced against the Irish and Democrats.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Ah, Governor [Murphy, of New Jersey], don’t try to deceive me as to the sentiment of the dear people. I have been hearing from the West and the East, and the South seems to be the only section which approves of me at all, and that comes from merely a generous impulse, for even that section would deny me its votes.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)