On this escort in 1987 , Pennsylvania Treasurer Budd Dwyer shot and killed himself during a televised mechanical press conference . Here ’s a face back at that tragical , fearsome story and the democratic song you might not realize it inspired .
In the recent eighties , Pennsylvania was embroiled in a bit of an accounting crisis . Employees of the Commonwealth had overpay millions in FICA taxation and the state legislative assembly began to research for an outside accounting agency to calculate the appropriate refunds . Harrisburg aboriginal John Torquato , Jr. finally won the $ 4.6 million contract bridge for his Californian - ground firm , Computer Technology Associates , through a series of well - aim payoff .
A few month and an investigating by the US Attorney later , the trail led back to United States Department of State treasurer Budd Dwyer , who was indict for receive $ 300,000 in kickback to aid Torquato guarantee the business enterprise . Dwyer vehemently refuse the charges , refused to mistreat down from his post , and even exit on a plea steal that would have carried a relatively lite sentence . In December of 1986 , he was found hangdog of racketeering , graft , fraud and conspiracy . After the finding of fact , he continued to proclaim his pureness and even publish President Reagan asking for a pardon .
The day before his sentence was to be hand down , Dwyer called a press conference . After reading a fain argument ( which you’re able to readhere ) , he handed a serial of sealed envelope to staffers , pulled out a .357 Magnum , placed it in his back talk and shot himself . Local and national TV stations consider how much of the suicide to air ( some played it in its entirety , others with only the audio ) .
The 2010 documentaryHonest Man : The Life of R. Budd Dwyerasserts Dwyer ’s ingenuousness .
In 1995 , Filter used Dwyer ’s public suicide as the stirring for " Hey Man , Nice Shot , " which garnered a fair amount of radio play :
