Former governor remembered by state

INDIANAPOLIS -- Former Gov. Robert D. Orr was remembered Thursday as a gentleman governor who led Indiana to education reform and economic revival after the 1980s recession and never lost his passion for public service or politics.\n"He thought the state needed a great leap forward in education and pressed us to confront the challenge of a globalizing economy," said Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard, an appointee and longtime friend of Orr's. "It's hard to imagine where Indiana would be today if he hadn't spurred the state into action on both fronts."\nOrr died Wednesday night at the IU Medical Center in Indianapolis, said Mark Lubbers, a former press secretary and top aide to the former Republican governor. He was 86.\nOrr had been admitted to the hospital earlier in the day and was being treated for an apparent blockage in his kidney, but his condition worsened, Lubbers said. The cause of death was believed to be heart arrhythmia, he said.\nService arrangements were pending Thursday.\nOrr spent 16 years in the state's top two offices, with two terms as lieutenant governor beginning in 1973 and then as governor from 1981 to 1989. He was barred from a third term.\n"Being governor is the best elective office you can have in this country," Orr said in 1995, six years after leaving office. "It's better than being president. When you're governor, you don't become a prisoner of the job. You can do the work and still have a life."\nAfter leaving office in 1989, he was named U.S. ambassador to Singapore.\nHe later returned to Indiana and, even as he became frail, remained an avid supporter of the GOP who loved to attend big political events, including State of the State speeches given by the Democratic governors who followed him.\nOrr built his political name as a state senator from Evansville and then as lieutenant governor under Gov. Otis "Doc" Bowen. In 1973, Orr presided over the state Senate and cast a tie-breaking vote to push a controversial package of tax increases and property tax cuts to passage.\nBowen said Thursday that vote showed courage and loyalty, since it could have ruined Orr's political future had the tax package proven unpopular with voters.\n"He was with me on every tough issue," Bowen said.\nThe public largely embraced the tax reforms, boosting Bowen's popularity and helping Orr win his first term by a landslide over Democratic nominee John Hillenbrand.\nIn mid-1982, Orr brushed aside warnings by two Democratic lawmakers that the recession was drying up state revenues and a tax increase would be needed to keep Indiana afloat. Orr called the lawmakers "the doom-and-gloom twins."\nBut later that year -- after the November election -- Orr called a special session and the GOP-controlled Legislature increased sales and income taxes. Still, he won a second term in 1984 by defeating Democratic state Sen. Wayne Townsend.\nOrr led efforts to pull Indiana out of the recession, including economic incentives such as property tax abatement and active recruitment of foreign industries. He also aggressively promoted the export of Indiana products -- a crusade he maintained long after leaving office.\nHe oversaw the removal of the state license branch system from political control and appointed a career educator to fill a vacancy as the state's school chief, even though both moves rubbed some Republicans the wrong way.\nBut many in both parties say his biggest achievement was passage of a sweeping educational reform package in 1987. The "A-Plus" program required student achievement exams, a new school accreditation system based on performance and rewards for schools that showed improvement.\nOrr pushed through a major tax increase to pay for the program, in part by throwing pork and perks into the mix. Former Democratic Rep. Louis Mahern said the reforms charted a new course in Indiana education.\nHe said Orr broke an impasse between teachers unions whose mantra was "always more money" and business lobbies whose cry was "We don't need more money, we need more accountability."\n"Bob Orr was the one who broke through all that and said, 'How about more money and more accountability,'" Mahern said. "I think he was able to bridge that gap."\nOrr married Joanne "Josie" Wallace in 1940, and they had three children. They divorced in 2000, and Orr married his second wife, Mary K. Davis, in January 2001. She was at his side when he died.