Word: thornburgh
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...Thornburgh got his start in politics in 1969when he became the U.S. attorney for westernPennsylvania. The young Thornburgh quickly won aname for himself as he aggressively attackedorganized crime, corruption, drug trafficking andpornography. As a result of his strong anti-crimestance, in 1975 he was appointed by President Fordto the post of Assistant Attorney General of theU.S., in charge of the Justice Department'sCriminal Division...
Ending his tour as Assistant Attorney Generalin 1977, Thornburgh decided to try a run as hisparty's candidate for governor of Pennsylvania.Facing a strong Democratic opponent who held anearly 30-point lead in a overwhelmingly Democraticslate, Thornburgh waged a tough campaign to win thepost he would hold for the next eight years...
...governor in 1979, Thornburgh pushed througha program which centered on reducing taxes and theamount of state expenditures. During hiseight-year term he cut state income and businesstaxes by $1 billion over three years and fired15,000 state employees. He further reducedgovernment expenditures by kicking what helabelled able-bodied adults off the welfare rollsand passing laws restricting the amount of medicalcost assistance...
...Thornburgh governed his state through one ofthe toughest economic periods in its history. Hardhit by economic recession and the decline of itssmokestack industries in coal and steel,Pennsylvania's unemployment rate reached seventhhighest in the nation when he took office...
...state constitution forbade him fromholding office a third consecutive term, theattraction of running in an election was not loston Thornburgh as 1986 approached. First he toyedwith the idea of running against incumbent ArlenSpecter (R-Pa.) for a U.S. Senate seat. Hisstatewide popularity would have made that electiona close one, but friendship with Specter and adesire to "get out of politics for a while" madeThornburgh change his mind, he said last summer...