Robert Budd Dwyer (November 21, 1939 – January 22, 1987) was an American politician who served as the 70th treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1981 until his suicide in 1987. A member of the Republican Party, he also served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1971 to 1981, representing the state's 50th district.
While serving as state treasurer in 1984, Dwyer awarded a $4.6 million contract to data processing company Computer Technology Associates (CTA) to help compensate Pennsylvania employees who overpaid federal taxes because of errors in state withholding. An investigation determined Dwyer accepted a bribe to give CTA the contract over more experienced and less expensive competitors, which would have resulted in Pennsylvania losing $6 million if the scheme was successful. He was found guilty in December 1986 on 11 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, perjury, and interstate transportation in aid of racketeering, which carried a maximum sentence of 55 years. The day before his sentencing, Dwyer arranged a press conference in his office and shot himself in the presence of reporters. His suicide was broadcast to many television viewers throughout Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley.
Dwyer maintained his innocence until his death. His lawyers made posthumous appeals on his behalf, but all were denied and his convictions were sustained. Along with Barbara Hafer and Rob McCord, Dwyer is one of three former Pennsylvania State treasurers to be convicted of corruption since the 1980s.
Robert Budd Dwyer was born on November 21, 1939, in St. Charles, Missouri, to Robert Malcolm Dwyer (1899–1980) and Alice Budd Dwyer (1907–1972). He had one younger sister. He attended Townville High School, graduating in 1957.
Dwyer graduated in 1961 with an A.B. in Political Science and Accounting from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he was a member of the Beta Chi chapter of Theta Chi fraternity. After earning a master's degree in education in 1963, he taught social studies and coached football at Cambridge Springs High School.
Dwyer became active in politics and was a member of the Republican Party. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 6th district (although seats were apportioned by county before 1969) in 1964 and was reelected in 1966 and 1968. In 1970, while still a State Representative, Dwyer campaigned to become a Pennsylvania State Senator for the Senate's 50th district, and won. Soon after his victory he resigned as Representative and was sworn in as Senator in January 1971. Dwyer also was a delegate to the 1976 Republican National Convention.
After being elected to two additional terms in 1974 and 1978, Dwyer decided to try for a statewide office and in 1980 campaigned for and won the office of Pennsylvania Treasurer which had been held by Robert E. Casey (not to be confused with Governor of Pennsylvania Robert P. Casey) since 1976. He campaigned for a second and last term in 1984 and won re-election, defeating Democratic nominee and former auditor general Al Benedict. Dwyer stated that his Treasury administration "transformed the Department from a financial antique into one of the most modern in the nation, earning and saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year."
From 1979 to 1981, before Dwyer was state treasurer, public employees of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania overpaid millions of dollars in Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes. As a result, the state required an accounting company to determine refunds for its employees. Dwyer awarded the no-bid $4.6 million contract to Computer Technology Associates (CTA), a California-based data processing company, owned by John Torquato Jr., a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on May 10, 1984.
During early 1984, Dennis Schatzman, deputy comptroller of Pittsburgh Public Schools, noticed financial discrepancies in the CTA contract, and wrote to Pittsburgh school officials regarding these. Schatzman later contacted officials of the accounting company Arthur Young and Associates, who confirmed that the no-bid CTA contract was overpriced by millions of dollars. In June 1984, the Office of the Pennsylvania Auditor General informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the alleged bribery that occurred during the awarding of the contract.
During late July 1984, Janice R. Kincaid, a former CTA employee, released a sworn statement claiming that Dwyer awarded the contract to CTA because he was promised a $300,000 kickback by the company. Kincaid also indicated that Torquato directed female CTA employees to give sexual favors to potential clients. Torquato was also said to have targeted multiple other state and local officials in Pennsylvania for bribes, including Pennsylvania Attorney General LeRoy Zimmerman.
Dwyer's awarding of the CTA contract was investigated by federal prosecutors. Upon learning of this investigation, Dwyer rescinded the contract with CTA on July 11, 1984. Subsequently, Dwyer repeatedly attempted to stop, divert and forestall the investigation, stating that the U.S. attorney had neither the authority nor evidence to pursue prosecution. Dwyer later admitted to telling his staff to withhold request for proposal (RFP) information from the U.S. attorney and the FBI during the investigation. After being indicted by a federal grand jury, Dwyer was finally charged with agreeing to receive a kickback of $300,000 in return for awarding CTA the contract.
Dwyer stated that he offered to take a polygraph test on the condition that if he passed it, he would not be indicted. The state rejected Dwyer's offer. Prior to Dwyer's indictment, on October 22, 1984, a grand jury indicted Torquato, Torquato's attorney William T. Smith, Judy Smith, Alan R. Stoneman, and David Herbert. At his 1985 trial, Smith, who was a friend of Dwyer's, testified that he did not bribe Dwyer, and instead that Torquato offered Dwyer a campaign contribution in return for the CTA contract, yet Dwyer rejected Torquato's offer. In contrast, Torquato testified that Smith offered Dwyer a $300,000 bribe in return for the CTA contract. Dwyer, acting as a defense witness at Smith's trial, denied that he was offered a contribution. In August 1984, Smith failed a polygraph test when he stated that he did not bribe Dwyer or any state official. However, prior to his trial on October 27, 1984 (four days after his indictment), Smith confessed to offering Dwyer a bribe, and stated that Dwyer accepted this offer.
I met with Dwyer in his office and at the insistence of Torquato offered to give him $300,000 if he signed a contract with CTA LTD. Dwyer talked about $100,000 to him personally—$100,000 to his campaign committee—$100,000 to Republican State Committee. [Dwyer] was going to see Robert Asher in Montgomery County that weekend to talk to him about how this should be done.
Robert B. Asher, the then Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman, objected to this, and requested that the $300,000 be directed entirely to the Republican State Committee, since Asher "did not want Dwyer to go to jail".
Asher indicated that he had had a conversation with Mr. Dwyer, and he knew that I had made an offer to him of a $300,000 contribution, and then he was very angry when he began to talk about that, angry with me. Said he thought I knew better than to offer a contribution to Mr. Dwyer, and he said if there was going to be a contribution, it was going to go to Republican State Committee.
Dwyer, along with Asher, was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 13, 1986. In the hopes of reducing his twelve-year sentence resulting from his 1985 conviction, Smith testified on behalf of the federal government against Dwyer and Asher at their 1986 trial. Ultimately, Smith did not receive any reduction of his sentence for testifying against Dwyer (although his wife, Judy Smith, was granted immunity from prosecution). Before testifying against Dwyer, Smith passed a polygraph test.
It was revealed at Dwyer's trial that he sought and won approval for special legislation—Act 38 of 1984 (House Bill 1397)—that authorized him to recover the FICA overpayments, and that coded computer tape seized from CTA's office on July 6, 1984, showed that Dwyer was to receive a $300,000 pay-off for awarding CTA the contract. Moreover, Smith and Torquato's claims about Dwyer being bribed were corroborated by four independent and impartial witnesses, and Smith's testimony against Dwyer was virtually identical to written statements Smith made long before entering into a plea agreement. Additionally, FBI agents testified that Dwyer attempted to conceal his involvement with the scheme when, after learning of the FBI investigation, he erased the entry in his appointment book of the March 2, 1984, meeting with Torquato and Smith in which he was first offered a bribe.