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Former TN Senator Harlan Mathews Dead at 87 (succeeded Gore in 1993)
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/09/former-us-sen-deputy-gov-harlan-mathews-dies/8890209/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=
Harlan Mathews, a longtime state official and right-hand man to a governor, a man who preferred to work behind the scenes but was briefly thrust into the limelight as a U.S. senator, died this morning, a family spokesman said. He was 87.
The cause of death was brain cancer. He died about 6 a.m.
Mr. Mathews was a fixture at the Capitol for all but a couple of years from 1950 into the 1990s, serving under four Democratic governors and holding the constitutional office of state treasurer — a position elected by the General Assembly — from 1974 to 1987.
<SNIP>
But Mr. Mathews held a very public role himself when he represented the state in Washington, D.C., at the end of his long career in public service. After U.S. Sen. Albert Gore was elected vice president in 1992, McWherter — who died in 2011 — appointed his top aide to fill the Senate seat.
Mr. Mathews served in the Senate for about two years until Fred Thompson, a Republican, won a special election in 1994. Hall, who served in the Clinton-Gore administration as chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Mr. Mathews was "the most electable Democrat we had" in Tennessee and would have given Thompson a tough race.
But Mr. Mathews didn't want to create a "fractious primary" and decided not to run against U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, who became the Democratic nominee, Hall said from Signal Mountain, Tenn.
</SNIP>
Harlan Mathews, a longtime state official and right-hand man to a governor, a man who preferred to work behind the scenes but was briefly thrust into the limelight as a U.S. senator, died this morning, a family spokesman said. He was 87.
The cause of death was brain cancer. He died about 6 a.m.
Mr. Mathews was a fixture at the Capitol for all but a couple of years from 1950 into the 1990s, serving under four Democratic governors and holding the constitutional office of state treasurer — a position elected by the General Assembly — from 1974 to 1987.
<SNIP>
But Mr. Mathews held a very public role himself when he represented the state in Washington, D.C., at the end of his long career in public service. After U.S. Sen. Albert Gore was elected vice president in 1992, McWherter — who died in 2011 — appointed his top aide to fill the Senate seat.
Mr. Mathews served in the Senate for about two years until Fred Thompson, a Republican, won a special election in 1994. Hall, who served in the Clinton-Gore administration as chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Mr. Mathews was "the most electable Democrat we had" in Tennessee and would have given Thompson a tough race.
But Mr. Mathews didn't want to create a "fractious primary" and decided not to run against U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, who became the Democratic nominee, Hall said from Signal Mountain, Tenn.
</SNIP>
Cross Gently Senator...
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Godspeed, Senator... 
