TOPEKA – Gov. Sam Brownback lauded his former colleague, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who died at the age of 82 after a long battle with cancer. Brownback called Specter a tough fighter who loved what America stood for and who lived the American dream. Specter and Brownback served 14 years together in the Senate, and were on the Senate Judiciary Committee together. Specter successfully battled cancer in 2005 and again in 2008. That, and another battle with a brain tumor, made him an advocate for medical research, including stem cell therapy. Specter died at the age of 82. Specter was elected to the senate as a Republican in 1980, and set a course as a fiercely independent centrist, who frequently annoyed his party and Democrats. Fellow Republicans were especially infuriated by his charge to sink Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination, a vote for which Specter remained unapologetic, saying Bork would have boded ill for the U.S. Constitution. In 2009, he again infuriated Republicans by supporting President Obama’s enormous stimulus bill, citing his own experiences in the Great Depression and Franklin Roosevelt’s efforts to jump-start employment. He lost the support of his party and became a Democrat. But Pennsylvania’s Democrats did not return the favor. He lost his bid for a sixth term in the Democratic primary. The winning Democrat lost to a conservative Republican in the November election. Specter was born in Wichita and grew up in Russell.
Monday, Oct. 15, 4 p.m.
