Ernest P. "Ernie" Kline (June 20, 1929 – May 13, 2009) was a Democratic member of the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ev ...

and the 25th

lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania The lieutenant governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lieutenant governor is elected for a four-year term in the same year as the governor. Each party picks a candidate for lieutenant governor independently o ...

, serving from 1971 to 1979.

Early life, career

Kline was born in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

and grew up in the Webster neighborhood of

Rostraver Township, Pennsylvania Rostraver Township is a township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 11,374 at the 2020 census. History Rostraver Township is in the southwestern corner of Westmoreland County and is the location of the Househol ...

. He attended Rostraver High School, where he was the starting quarterback and graduated in 1947. He attended Duquesne University, but was unable to afford completing his degree. He took a career in radio news broadcasting in

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

Connellsville Connellsville is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Pittsburgh and away via the Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 7,637 at th ...

, Kittanning, and at

WBVP-AM WBVP (1230 AM) and WMBA (1460 AM) are commercial radio stations based in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. The stations simulcast a news/talk radio format. The stations are owned by St. Barnabas Broadcasting, a division of the Saint Barnabas Hea ...

Beaver Falls Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

. He entered politics after covering city council; he was elected to the Beaver Falls City Council in 1955. In 1961, he was appointed to be a workers' compensation referee for

Beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, and Greene Counties.

Politics

He was elected to the

in 1964, taking office in 1965. In August 1967, he was elected Democratic Floor Leader, becoming the youngest person to hold that position. He was elected

Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania The lieutenant governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lieutenant governor is elected for a four-year term in the same year as the governor. Each party picks a candidate for lieutenant governor independently o ...

on the

Milton Shapp Milton Jerrold Shapp (born Milton Jerrold Shapiro; June 25, 1912 – November 24, 1994) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 40th governor of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979 and the first Jewish governor of Pennsylvania. H ...

gubernatorial ticket in November 1970. As a Western Pennsylvanian, Kline provided balance to the Democratic ticket, which had Philadelphian

. Kline held that position from 1971 to 1979. He was the first Lieutenant Governor to live in

State House State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

, the Lieutenant Governor's official residence. He served as a delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. He is credited for taking steps to establish the Governor's Energy Council during the

1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...

and for leading the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. He ran for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1978, but lost a highly contested primary to Peter Flaherty, who eventually lost to

Dick Thornburgh Richard Lewis Thornburgh (July 16, 1932 – December 31, 2020) was an American lawyer, author, and Republican politician who served as the 41st governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987, and then as the United States attorney general fro ...

Later life and death

Kline retired from political life after his stint as lieutenant governor and served as a lobbyist. He lived in Palmyra, Pennsylvania until his death in 2009 at the age of 79.

References

External links

Pennsylvania State Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kline, Ernest P. 1929 births 2009 deaths American radio reporters and correspondents Duquesne University alumni Pennsylvania lobbyists Lieutenant Governors of Pennsylvania Politicians from Allentown, Pennsylvania People from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania People from Lebanon County, Pennsylvania Democratic Party Pennsylvania state senators 20th-century American politicians People from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania