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Bud Shuster | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chair of theHouse Transportation Committee | |
| In office January 4, 1995 – January 3, 2001 | |
| Speaker | Newt Gingrich Dennis Hastert |
| Preceded by | Norman Mineta |
| Succeeded by | Don Young |
| Chair of theHouse Republican Policy Committee | |
| In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1981 | |
| Leader | John Jacob Rhodes |
| Preceded by | Del M. Clawson |
| Succeeded by | Dick Cheney |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's9th district | |
| In office January 3, 1973 – February 3, 2001[1] | |
| Preceded by | John H. Ware III |
| Succeeded by | Bill Shuster |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Elmer Greinert Shuster (1932-01-23)January 23, 1932 Glassport, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | April 19, 2023(2023-04-19) (aged 91) Everett, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | H. Patricia Rommel |
| Signature |  |
Shuster, as chair of theHouse Transportation Committee, speaks on theTransportation Equity Act for the 21st Century Recorded April 1, 1998 | |
Elmer Greinert "Bud"Shuster (/ˈʃuːstər/SHOO-stər; January 23, 1932 – April 19, 2023) was an American politician who representedPennsylvania's 9th congressional district in theUnited States House of Representatives as aRepublican from 1973 to 2001. He was best known for his advocacy of transportation projects, includingInterstate 99.
Shuster was born in thePittsburgh suburb ofGlassport, Pennsylvania, the son of Grace (née Greinert) and Prather Leroy Shuster.[2] He received hisB.A. from theUniversity of Pittsburgh in 1954, where he became a member ofSigma Chi, anM.B.A. fromDuquesne University in 1960, and aPh.D. fromAmerican University in 1967. Shuster's official congressional biography states that he served in theUnited States Army from 1954 to 1956. However, in one of his several books,Believing in America, published in 1983, Shuster stated that he was the class president at the University of Pittsburgh and was recruited by the localCIA office on campus and that this was his actual first employment. Shuster described his role as that of infiltrating civil rights groups eerily similar toCOINTELPRO operations of theFBI. Shuster claimed that communist groups were penetrating the civil rights movement to provoke the police into attacking the demonstrators who were marching for equal rights for African-Americans. He claimed communists did this to embarrass the United States in front of the world. His book completely contradicts his later claims to have been in the military. After leaving behind college and military life, Shuster entered the business world. He became a vice president atRCA, and he made a fortune when he started his own computer business.
In 1972, Shuster decided to enter politics when he entered the Republican primary for the Pennsylvania's 9th Congressional District. The district had previously been the 12th, represented by five-term RepublicanJ. Irving Whalley, who was retiring. He defeated popular state senatorD. Elmer Hawbaker of Mercersburg in the Republican primary–the real contest in what has long been one of the most Republican districts in Pennsylvania. The 9th and its predecessors have been in Republican hands for all but six years since 1927. He breezed to the election that November.
Shuster's election to Congress was on the coattails of PresidentNixon's sweeping re-election victory. As theWatergate revelations against those closest to the president mounted, Shuster adamantly supported the president. Even after theSaturday Night Massacre, in which independent counselArchibald Cox was fired because he refused to back down in the face of an order by the president to withdraw a subpoena for White House tapes, an event which severely eroded Congressional Republican support and set in motion the impeachment process, Shuster chose to strike out against Cox. On October 31, 1973, Shuster introduced House Resolution 677, which called for an investigation by Congress of Archibald Cox and the staff of the Special Prosecutor's office "to determine the extent of criminal violations" and send the findings to the Justice Department for prosecution. He accompanied the resolution with a statement about Cox: "This pompous, pious, self-righteous, supposedly independent special prosecutor is far worse than just political."[3] The resolution was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on November 15, 1973, where it died.[4] A year later, even as many Republicans went down to defeat in the face of anti-Watergate backlash, Shuster won a second term with 56 percent of the vote.
In Congress, Shuster was one of the opponents of the automobileairbag.[5] He ran for the position ofMinority Whip in 1980, losing toTrent Lott. Shuster chaired theU.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure from 1995 to 2001. He also served as Ranking Member of theHouse Intelligence Committee.[6][7][8]
Shuster usually skated to re-election. His bid for a second term would be the only time he would drop below 60 percent of the vote. His most notable challenger came in 1984 whenNancy Kulp, the actress who played Miss Jane Hathaway onThe Beverly Hillbillies won the Democratic nomination. Kulp, a native of Pennsylvania, had returned to her home state upon her retirement from acting and received support from her friends in Hollywood. Kulp's former co-starBuddy Ebsen, a Republican, contacted the Shuster campaign and volunteered to record radio spots declaring, "Hey Nancy, I love you dearly but you're too liberal for me – I've got to go with Bud Shuster." Shuster went on to win re-election with two-thirds of the vote. It would be the next-to-last time he would face any opposition at all; from 1986 to 2000, only one Democrat even filed to run against him.
Shuster is best known for taking on his party leadership and U.S. PresidentBill Clinton in the 1990s to keep more of the taxes on motor fuels and air travel in the dedicated federal trust funds they were supposed to go to by law. Shuster won both battles, even though then U.S. House SpeakerNewt Gingrich and Clinton united to oppose him, wanting to keep the funds available for borrowing for other programs.[9]
Those victories meant during his time as chairman numerous transportation projects were funded, includingInterstate 99, the only Interstate highway to have its route number (a violation of the usualInterstate numbering standard) written into law.[10] The route was later named the "Bud Shuster Highway" by GovernorRobert Casey. When the transportation authorization bill known by its initials as "BESTEA" was under consideration, his fellow members joked the letters stood for the "Bud E. Shuster Transportation for All Eternity Act" for its many "pork barrel" projects.
In 1996, Shuster was the focus of anethics investigation by theCongressional Accountability Project stemming from the complex relationship between Representative Shuster and Ann Eppard, a former Shuster aide turnedlobbyist, and Rep. Shuster's interventions with federal agencies on behalf of a business partner of his sons.
In 1998, Eppard was indicted for taking bribes to influence federal action onBoston'sBig Dig highway construction project. In addition, she was accused of having embezzled money from Shuster's reelection committee when she served as its assistant treasurer.[11] In 1999, Eppard pleaded guilty to onemisdemeanor charge of receiving improper compensation and paid a $5,000 fine.[12] Eppard died on December 24, 2005.[13]
Shuster resigned from Congress on February 3, 2001, just a month after being sworn in for a 15th term. While he claimed health problems, he had also been forced to give up his chairmanship due to a Republican policy of a six-year term limit for committee chairmen. He was succeeded by his sonBill who was elected in a special election that May.
Shuster retired from politics, but he served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science atSaint Francis University inLoretto, Pennsylvania, from which he received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Shuster died at his farm inEverett, Pennsylvania, on April 19, 2023, at the age of 91, from complications of a hip fracture he sustained two weeks earlier.[14]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's 9th congressional district 1973–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Norman Mineta California | Chairman ofHouse Transportation Committee 1995–2001 | Succeeded by Don Young Alaska |
| Public Buildings and Grounds (1837–1947) |  | |
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| Rivers and Harbors (1883–1947) | ||
| Roads (1913–1947) | ||
| Flood Control (1916–1947) | ||
| Transportation and Infrastructure* (1947–) | ||
| Note | * Alternately namedPublic Works in 80th through 93rd Congresses andPublic Works and Transportation in 94th through 103rd Congresses. | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
