Robert P. Casey papers

Robert Patrick Casey (1932-2000) was born on January 9, 1932, to Alphonsus L. and Marie Cummings Casey. He grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the anthracite coal regions where his great-grandfather Edward Casey settled after emigrating from Ireland in 1851 during the great-hunger, time of famine. In his youth, Casey's father Alphonsus worked as a laborer and coal miner but finished high school and later earned a law degree at Fordham University, New York City. Shortly after Casey's birth in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, Alphonsus Casey returned with his family to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he practiced law, defending the rights of miners and other workers. In his autobiography, Fighting for Life, Robert Casey testifies to the respect his father left him for the struggles of working people (p. 26).

Casey attended Scranton Preparatory School, a Jesuit college preparatory school, graduating in 1949, valedictorian and president of his class. He turned down a tryout with the Philadelphia Phillies to attend The College of Holy Cross, Worchester, Massachusetts, on a basketball scholarship. In 1953 he graduated cum laude, with a B.A. in English. The same year he married his high school sweetheart, Ellen Theresa Harding. The couple then moved to Washington, D.C., where Casey studied law at George Washington University Law School. After earning his J. D. in 1956, he joined the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. In 1958 he returned to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he opened his own law practice.

In 1962 at age 30 Casey was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate as the representative from Lackawanna County and served from 1963 to 1968. In 1967, he was elected delegate to the convention assembled to rewrite portions of the state constitution, and in 1968 he served as the convention's vice president. In the same year 1968, Casey was elected State Auditor General and then re-elected in 1972, serving from 1969 to 1977. During his two terms, Casey earned a reputation for honesty and integrity. While in office, he reformed the Department of the Auditor General by hiring certified public accountants, monitoring school district expenditures, investigating fraud, and eliminating forced political contributions from state employees.

Before becoming Governor of Pennsylvania on January 20, 1987, Casey made three unsuccessful bids for the governorship. In 1966 and 1970 Casey sought the governorship but both times lost in the primaries to the television multimillionaire Milton Jerrold Shapp. In 1978, Casey ran for a third time, but after another candidate named Robert Casey entered the race, Casey lost in the primaries to Pittsburgh mayor, Peter Flaherty. Casey then returned to law practice managing the Scranton office of the Philadelphia law firm of Dilworth, Paxson, Kalish & Kauffman.

In 1986, Casey's fourth bid for the governorship was successful. With a campaign managed by James Carville and Paul Begala, Casey defeated the Philadelphia district attorney Edward Rendell in the primaries. In the general election, called the coal town contest, he narrowly won over his Republican opponent William Scranton III, also from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Casey's victory was partially attributed to the effect of controversial campaign ads depicting Scranton, who had practiced transcendental mediation, as a guru. In his campaign for re-election in 1990, Casey won by a landslide over Auditor General Barbara Hafer.

Casey became governor during a climate of economic transition. During the 1980s and 1990s Pennsylvania was moving from an industrial to service-based economy. However, before jobs in healthcare, retailing, and technology would emerge, closings of coal mines, textile factories, and other manufacturing industries led to large-scale unemployment. In addition, the state endured a large budget deficit and a national recession in the early 1990s.

In response to this climate Casey's governorship was characterized by lack of financial scandal, by minority appointments, and by notable accomplishments in areas of employment, infra-structure, the environment, education, and social programs. To jump-start the economy, Casey reduced business taxes, invested $3 million dollars to create new jobs, reformed the state liquor control system, and controlled costs of auto and workers' compensation insurance. To strengthen the state infrastructure his administration completed the interstate highway system and improved public water and sewer systems in rural communities through PENNVEST, a state grant and loan program. To empower education, Casey increased school subsidies by 214 million dollars. To support the environment, Casey created the heritage park program, implemented the largest trash recycling program in the nation, and promoted a hazardous site clean-up law subsequently approved by the State Legislature.

Casey's social achievements were among his most significant accomplishments. He implemented the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for children of parents who though unqualified for welfare were nonetheless unable to afford health insurance. He increased the poverty exemption of the state income tax. He also formed an adoption network service, expanded women's healthcare service, implemented school-based childcare programs, created welfare system reforms, and instituted Pennfree, an anti-drug and alcohol abuse program. In 1989, in response to the Camp Hill prison riots, Casey also instituted a prison expansion program.

However, Casey's governorship was not without controversy. In face of the budget deficit in 1991, Casey signed a 3 billion dollar tax increase to balance the budget. He also attempted to reform the local property tax structure, a measure, approved by the General Assembly, but defeated in a referendum at the polls in 1989. In 1993-1994 Casey also tried unsuccessfully to implement a universal health care system.

In addition, two major issues of Casey's governorship curtailed Casey's national promise. In 1989 Casey advocated for and signed the 1989 Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act which placed limitations on abortion, including a 24-hour waiting period for an abortion. Challenged by Planned Parenthood in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the United States Supreme Court in 1993 affirmed all but one of the law's limitations as well as states' rights to place limitations on abortion. Nonetheless despite this affirmation, Casey's pro-life position strained his relations with members of the Democratic Party who dominantly held a pro-choice position. Consequently, the Democratic Party denied Casey the opportunity to speak at the 1992 Democratic Convention. Moreover, Casey's position on abortion also influenced the 1994 Pennsylvania election outcomes. Because of their respective abortion positions, Casey refused to endorse his lieutenant governor, Mark Singel, running for governor, and his appointee, Harris Wofford, running for the U.S. Senate. Both men lost and the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania was left fragmented.

Casey's health emerged as a second major issue of his governorship. At the beginning of his first term in October 1987, after a silent heart attack, Casey underwent quadruple bypass surgery. In addition, at the beginning of his second term in 1991, Casey was diagnosed with Appalachian familial amyloidosis, a hereditary disease in which proteins invade and destroy the body's major organs. On June 14, 1993, within hours of placing his name on the list for transplants, Casey underwent surgery for liver and heart transplants. After completing his two terms as governor, Casey contemplated running for president, but because of his serious health issues decided against it.

In 1995 Casey left office and returned to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he wrote and devoted his energies to several organizations. In 1996, he published an autobiography, Fighting for Life. Casey also became president of Transplant Recipients International, an advocacy group for organ transplants. In addition, he founded the Campaign for the American Family, Inc., a lobbying organization to change legislation to help families, and created the Fund for the American Family, Inc., an educational foundation to study public issues affecting families.

Robert Patrick Casey died on May 30, 2000, from a viral infection. He was survived by his wife, eight children, and twenty-eight grandchildren.