Post by Adam on Dec 13, 2006 13:33:54 GMT -5
www.sttammany.com/news-detail/article/780/ex-pennsylva.html
By: United Press International
Updated: 33 min ago
Raymond Shafer, former Pennsylvania Republican governor and founding chairman of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, has died at the age of 89.
Shafer's daughter, Diane Graham said her father died Tuesday of complications from congestive heart failure at the Meadville (Pa.) Medical Center.
Shafer was voted into office by a 250,000-vote margin in 1967 and served a single 4-year term but made some historic changes with national ramifications, including making Pennsylvania the first state to allow public workers to unionize.
He also pushed for a major expansion of the state's highway system but as spending on education and public assistance rose, he raised sales tax from 5 to 6 percent, which was unpopular, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
In 1971, he accepted U.S. President Richard Nixon's nomination to chair the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, which became known as the Shafer Commission. In 1972, the group's report shook the nation by calling for the legalization of possession of marijuana. Nixon dismissed the report in its entirety.
He is survived by his wife Jane, a son and daughter, three grandchildren and a great-grandson.
By: United Press International
Updated: 33 min ago
Raymond Shafer, former Pennsylvania Republican governor and founding chairman of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, has died at the age of 89.
Shafer's daughter, Diane Graham said her father died Tuesday of complications from congestive heart failure at the Meadville (Pa.) Medical Center.
Shafer was voted into office by a 250,000-vote margin in 1967 and served a single 4-year term but made some historic changes with national ramifications, including making Pennsylvania the first state to allow public workers to unionize.
He also pushed for a major expansion of the state's highway system but as spending on education and public assistance rose, he raised sales tax from 5 to 6 percent, which was unpopular, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
In 1971, he accepted U.S. President Richard Nixon's nomination to chair the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, which became known as the Shafer Commission. In 1972, the group's report shook the nation by calling for the legalization of possession of marijuana. Nixon dismissed the report in its entirety.
He is survived by his wife Jane, a son and daughter, three grandchildren and a great-grandson.