Budd

Budd, don't
When I...
This will hurt someone

Sixty-five years
Budd's life
Snapped??? for them
???Like a little bastard...???
Where do we get off?
Where do we get off?
Laugh at Budd's hat
Purely comical
How could anyone wear it?
How could anyone wear it?
Motherfucker!

Sweats like a pig
Fat as all hell
To laugh at him
Fat as all hell
He is my god
He is pristine
He is pure
Genius!

Budd

From the New York Times, Friday, January 23, 1987
(Thanks to the Palatine Public Library)


Official Calls In Press and Kills Himself

By William K. Stevens
Special to the New York Times

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 22 -- R. Budd Dwyer, the Pennsylvania State Treasurer, whose conviction for bribery last month jolted the state's Republican Party, shot and killed himself today at a news conference in his office in Harrisburg, the state capital.
For half an hour he protested that he was innocent and criticized some people who had been connected with his conviction, and included news organizations that had reported it.
Then, red-faced and sweating, Mr. Dwyer drew a .357 Magnum revolver from a manila envelope. He warned everyone to stay away to avoid being hurt. Several reporters ducked for cover. Others tried to dissuade him.
Before anyone could reach Mr. Dwyer, he put the barrel of the pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger. He was pronounced dead half an hour later, at 11:31 A.M.
Wife Suggested for His Post
In a letter delivered later to Gov. Robert P. Casey, a Democrat who was inaugurated Tuesday, Mr. Dwyer, who was 47 years old, said he regretted that "the 'justice' system did not function properly in my case," and asked that Mr. Casey consider appointing his wife, Joanne Dwyer, as interim Treasurer.
Mr. Dwyer and a former state Republican chairman, Robert B. Asher, were found guilty last month of 11 Federal charges stemming from the Pennsylvania Treasury Department's 1984 decision to award a $4.6 million contract to a California computer concern without taking bids.
Two of the company's officials testified that they had won the contract by offering a $300,000 payoff to Mr. Dwyer. One testified that Mr. Asher found out about the offer and ordered the money diverted to the Republican State Committee.
The convictions in Federal District Court in Williamsport, Pa., resulted from an investigation that might affect the Republican Party's state hierarchy and widen a shift of power to the Democrats. Republicans held the Governor's office for 16 of the last 24 years before Mr. Casey, a Democrat, was elected to succeed Dick Thornburgh, a Republican.

'Budd -- Don't Do It!'

As he drew the revolver, witnesses said, he warned people to stay away because "this will hurt someone."
"Budd -- don't do it!" a reporter shouted. "Budd! Budd! Budd!" another shouted.
"I should have run and grabbed him when he pulled out the envelope," said Fred Cusick, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I knew that was it.

Pictures Raise News Issue

By The Associated Press

After the Pennsylvania Treasurer, R. Budd Dwyer, shot himself to death, cameras provided a graphic record for newspapers and television, confronting the news media with a decision of whether to use the images.
Among stations showing the shooting were WPVI-TV in Philadelphia and, in an early broadcast, WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh. "It's an historic event" about an "important man," said By Williams, WPXI's news operations manager. The footage was limited in a later broadcast. "Everyone knows by then that he did it," said Mr. Williams. "There are children out of school."
KYW-TV in Philadelphia and many other stations in Pennsylvania decided not to show the shooting. Some said they would show him holding the gun but nothing else. WCAU-TV in Philadelphia showed him putting the gun in his mouth before the broadcast cut away from the tape.
The NBC "Nightly News" showed Mr. Dwyer waving the gun and showed his body. CBS and ABC used a still photograph of him in their evening broadcasts.
The Associated Press transmitted a series of photographs with an alert as to their nature. The photos included pictures of Mr. Dwyer with the gun in his mouth and one taken shortly after he pulled the trigger.