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Lasting legacy: Gov. Shafer was a true public servant

Lasting legacy: Gov. Shafer was a true public servant

One problem with growing old is that a good person can outlive the memory of his works. Because he was 89 when he died Tuesday and 35 years past the pinnacle of his power in Pennsylvania, many residents may have forgotten or never have known former Gov. Raymond P. Shafer.

Yet this son of Western Pennsylvania isn't someone who should be casually forgotten. Gov. Ed Rendell fittingly said: "Ray Shafer was one of the most dedicated public servants in the history of the commonwealth."

He was something else -- a moderate Republican of the kind once typical in Pennsylvania but now in eclipse in a rabid ideological age. His idealism was reflected in the highs and lows of his career, one that never abandoned a commitment to public service.

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After graduation from Allegheny College in Meadville and the Yale Law School, he served in the Pacific in World War II. As a PT boat commander in the Navy who took part in more than 80 combat missions, he earned decorations that included the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

After the war, he entered private practice in Meadville and in 1948 won the first of two terms as district attorney of Crawford County. He was elected a state senator in 1958 and later lieutenant governor under Gov. William Scranton. He succeeded Mr. Scranton as governor from 1967 to 1971.

His term was not an unqualified success, but he did leave a profound legacy. The state highway system was massively expanded and the state Department of Environmental Resources was created. More state money went to education and public assistance.

His lasting contribution may have been his leadership in convening a state constitutional convention, work that began while he was still lieutenant governor. Among the reforms that resulted were a unified judicial system and an extension of the limits for governor to two four-year terms.

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All that increased spending, however, spelled trouble. Taxes were raised and still a budget crisis loomed. Mr. Shafer's popularity plummeted when he proposed a personal income tax, which his successor, the Democrat Milton Shapp, eventually implemented.

Mr. Shafer had prestige enough to play a part on the national political scene. At the Republican convention in 1968, true to his political character, he nominated Nelson Rockefeller to be the party's presidential candidate. Richard Nixon, who won the nomination, went on as president to tap Mr. Shafer to chair a commission on marijuana and drug abuse -- only to reject later its ahead-of-its-time recommendation that marijuana be decriminalized.

Ray Shafer didn't get everything right as governor, but he was a true public servant who had good intentions, guts and principles. He deserves a secure place in the collective memory of Pennsylvanians.

First Published: December 16, 2006, 5:00 a.m.

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