Robert C. Jubelirer (born February 9, 1937,

Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 Census, making it the eighteenth most populous city in Pennsylvania. T ...

) is a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

political leader in Pennsylvania. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1975 to 2006. He served as President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania State Senate for all but two years from 1984 to 2006, and served as the 29th

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 ...

between 2001 and 2003. Jubelirer was defeated for re-election in the 2006 Republican party primary election and left office on November 30, 2006.

Early life

The son of a prominent county judge, Jubelirer attended Pennsylvania State University and the

Dickinson School of Law Penn State Dickinson Law, formerly Dickinson School of Law, is a public law school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It is one of two separately accredited law schools of The Pennsylvania State University. According to Penn State Dickinson Law's 2019 ...

. He was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in Blair County, Pennsylvania and practiced law for several years before entering politics. He was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1974 to represent the Altoona area. He was elected

Majority Leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

in 1981. Jubelirer served as

President Pro Tempore of the Senate A president pro tempore or speaker pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer. The phrase ''pro tempore'' is Latin "for the time being". ...

from 1985 to 1992. After serving briefly as Minority Leader from 1992 to 1994, he again became President Pro Tempore. In a 2002

PoliticsPA PoliticsPA.com is a website centered on the politics of Pennsylvania. Content The website reports on political and campaign news in Pennsylvania, from the state legislature up to federal races. The editors write occasional features, like the we ...

Feature story A feature story is a piece of non-fiction writing about news. A feature story is a type of soft news. The main sub-types are the ''news feature'' and the '' human-interest story''. A feature story is distinguished from other types of non-news ...

designating politicians with yearbook superlatives, he was named the "Hardest Working."

Lieutenant governor

When

Pennsylvania Governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the head of state and head of government of the U.S. state, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforc ...

Tom Ridge Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 26, 1945) is an American politician and author who served as the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security from 2001 to 2003, and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005. ...

resigned on October 5, 2001 to become President Bush's

Homeland Security Advisor The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, commonly referred to as the Homeland Security Advisor and formerly the Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, is a senior aide in the ...

, Lt. Governor

Mark Schweiker Mark Stephen Schweiker (born January 31, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 44th governor of Pennsylvania from October 5, 2001 to January 21, 2003. Schweiker, a Republican, assumed the governorship in 2001, when ...

ascended to the governorship. By provision of the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1968, Jubelirer as President Pro Tempore was automatically elevated to Lt. Governor and sworn in the same day. Jubelirer's elevation to the office was not without controversy, as he retained his position in the Pennsylvania State Senate. Critics and political foes argued that this violated the

separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...

principle and threatened the

checks and balances Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...

guaranteed in the state constitution. A lawsuit was filed by State Rep. John Lawless, Joseph Wiedemer and Leechburg Area School Board member Charles A. Pascal, Jr. to block Jubelirer's simultaneous service in the Senate and the executive branch, but the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court rejected the argument and issued a

per curiam decision In law, a ''per curiam'' decision (or opinion) is a ruling issued by an appellate court of multiple judges in which the decision rendered is made by the court (or at least, a majority of the court) acting collectively (and typically, though no ...

allowing Jubelirer to hold both offices simultaneously. Jubelirer continued in both offices until January 21, 2003 when Schweiker's term expired. He declined to accept the Lt. Governor's salary during his term.

2006 primary election defeat

In May 2006, Jubelirer was defeated in the Republican primary by Blair County Commissioner

John Eichelberger John Eichelberger (born September 1, 1958) of Blair Township, Pennsylvania is an American politician and former Pennsylvania State Senator. He is a member of the Republican Party. He represented the 30th district of the Pennsylvania State Sen ...

. He, along with Chip Brightbill, the Senate majority leader, were the first top-ranking

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

legislative leaders to lose a primary election since 1964. The defeat was attributed primarily to his role in drafting a legislative pay raise bill in July 2005. Jubelirer initially defended the raise. However, after internal polling showed his support falling, he opened discussion of a repeal of the unvouchered expense provision. However, newspapers reported that he tried to block efforts to repeal the entire raise. In the wake of the controversy, the Senator issued a statement in which he called the pay raise a "mistake" ... I apologized for it in my district. I now think it was the wrong thing to do. Hindsight is 20-20. I'm not shifting the blame to anybody. I accept the responsibility." He pledged to return the money he had received from the unvouchered expense account. During the campaign, Jubelirer's more conservative challengers attacked him on abortion. Despite statements during the 2006 campaign that he was anti-abortion, Jubelirer's opposition to the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act and a "pro-choice" rating by both the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood were used by opponents to counter his arguments. He told the '' Jewish Telegraphic Agency'' that he was "a pro-choice Republican" and that he did not support the Republican platform on abortion. Jubelirer's initial annual pension was $90,934.

2013 Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees election

Jubelirer attempted a comeback of sorts, seeking a seat on the Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees. Despite an endorsement from former Gov. Tom Ridge, Jubelirer finished a distant sixth place, failing to earn one of the three seats. He was elected to The Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees in 2014.

References

External links