Arthur H. Samish (August 9, 1897 – February 12, 1974) was a

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

, representing movie studios, racetracks, lawyers, insurance companies, fishing, cigarette, liquor and brewing interests. Politically powerful throughout his career, he was convicted of tax evasion in 1953, which led to a three-year stint in prison beginning in 1956 as well as millions of dollars in penalties. He retired from politics in 1959 and died in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1974. In an article published on August 13 and August 20, 1949, Samish poses in the national "Collier's Magazine" with a

Charlie McCarthy Charlie McCarthy is Edgar Bergen's famed ventriloquist dummy partner. Charlie was part of Bergen's act as early as high school, and by 1930, was attired in his famous top hat, tuxedo, and monocle. The character was so well-known that his populari ...

-type dummy. Samish said to the dummy, "This is my legislature. How are you Mr. Legislature?" Members of the State Legislature were not amused, and the public was outraged.

References

Bibliography

*H.R.Philbrick, ''Report on an investigation of reports of corruption in the Legislature of California'' (Premier Publications, Sacramento, 1949, reprinted from the original appearance in the California Senate Journal of 1939

*Lester Velie, “The Secret Boss of California,” ''Collier's'', August 13, 1949. (The article that first "exposed" Samish nationally, though his power in Sacramento, ten years after the Philbrick Report, was already an open secret.) * *Arthur H. Samish and Bob Thomas, ''The Secret Boss of California; the Life and high times of Art Samish'' (NY, 1971)
Thayer Watkins, ''Arthur Samish: A Political Boss of California''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samish, Arthur Activists from California American lobbyists American people convicted of tax crimes 1897 births 1974 deaths