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Many years ago, I started a second career in the Washington, D.C.,
office of the law firm K&L Gates. One of the first people who wandered into my office to welcome me to the firm was Dick Thornburgh. I had gone to college in Pennsylvania and knew people who worked with him in government, but this was the first time we had met.
Over the next few years, I came to appreciate why so many loved and respected him. He was not only a fine lawyer, but also a man of many interests. Those interests included not only politics and political theory, but literature and film. In 2010, he wrote a fine essay for the National Law Journal to mark the 50th anniversary of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” titled “What would Atticus Finch do?” And he was known to be able to produce his updated list of the top films of all time on a moment’s notice and to be able to debate why certain
AP
Closing the gap
Democrats in Pennsylvania still have a registration edge of 700,000 over Republicans, with 4.2 million Democrats, compared to 3.5 million Republicans. However, the GOP has been making gains, while Democrats have seen small losses.
Over the last four years, Republicans added 205,000 registered voters, while Democrats saw their total registration slip by 10,000.
Nowhere has this trend been more pronounced than Westmoreland County. As recently as 25 years ago, Democrats there boasted a 2-1 registration edge, but Republicans took the lead in registered voters in 2019. Deb Erdley
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Following the news of Richard Thornburgh s death at age 88 on December 31, almost everyone who had met the former two-term governor of Pennsylvania, and U.S. attorney general had a story about him..
Dick Thornburgh was a champion to those with intellectual disabilities | Opinion
Updated Jan 06, 2021;
Posted Jan 06, 2021
Former Gov. Dick Thornburgh and wife Ginny attend a reception at the Pennsylvania Society Dinner in 2008 in New York City.
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By Walter W. Cohen
Articles on the recent passing of former Gov. Dick Thornburgh have sought to highlight his achievements and capture his character.
We all know he was governor of our state and a U.S. attorney general. And he was universally recognized as an honest, intelligent and empathetic leader.
But what’s been missing in these remembrances is discussion of perhaps his most significant and lasting achievement leading the movement toward community living and treatment for people who are mentally ill and those who have intellectual disabilities.