INDIANAPOLIS - Frank O'Bannon, who parlayed down-home southernIndiana charm and consensus-building ability into mixed success ashis state's governor since 1997, died Saturday, five days daysafter suffering a stroke. He was 73.
O'Bannon died at 11:33 a.m., a statement from his press officesaid.
''The governor's condition worsened early this morning as heexperienced an increase in the swelling of his brain,'' thestatement said. ''Despite all measures administered by physiciansto control his intracranial pressure, it continued to rise andsubsequently caused his vital signs to go from stable tounstable.
''The governor experienced a drop in both blood pressure andheart rate. Based on the governor's living will, First Lady JudyOBannon and the family decided to use no further means of supportand care and the governor died naturally,'' the statement said.
O'Bannon designated that he wished to donate organs, so his bodywas to be returned to Indianapolis later Saturday, the statementsaid.
O'Bannon's tenure began brightly with the economic boom of thelate 1990s. Indiana built a record $2 billion surplus, and O'Bannoncut taxes by $1.5 billion, put 500 more police officers on thestreets, and won increasing funding for schools and universities.The moderate Democrat coasted to re-election in 2000 over formerU.S. Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind.
Shortly into his second term, the economic good times souredinto a recession. Indiana lost 120,000 jobs, and tax revenuesflowing into state coffers slowed to a trickle, forcing taxincreases and cuts in social services and other agencies whilelargely sparing education.
Republicans blamed O'Bannon for only recently focusing oneconomic development.
In an April 2002 interview, O'Bannon acknowledged the state'sworst fiscal crunch in two decades would help shape his legacy.
''It will certainly be a part of it. But I don't even think ofmy legacy. I just look at things I can get done,'' O'Bannonsaid.
His critics also accused O'Bannon of running a loose ship asgovernor. They pointed to the embezzlement from a public retirementfund, a slow response by his environmental agency to a big fishkill, and problems at two state centers for the developmentallydisabled.
Criticism of O'Bannon rarely turned personal, though. Thatreflected his folksy image -- his home is a reconstructed barn onthe outskirts of the family hometown of Corydon -- and the goodwill he had built during 18 years in the Indiana Senate and eightas lieutenant governor.
Brian Bosma, the Indiana House minority leader, clashed withO'Bannon on policy issues, but knew the governor's positions weredeeply held.
''He has always done what he has felt was in the best interestof our state. I would never question his integrity or his serviceor his dedication,'' said Bosma, R-Indianapolis.
Sen. Evan Bayh, who was governor when O'Bannon was lieutenantgovernor, hailed him after he fell ill Monday as ''a good man andone of the most decent public servants I've ever had the honor ofworking with.''
O'Bannon won his first term as governor in 1996, narrowlydefeating Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, who had advocatedbold moves such as school choice and privatization of governmentservices.
Indiana residents traditionally have embraced change only whenit honors the past, historian James Madison has written. ''Whenforced to change, they were always able to blend the old with thenew.''
''I think O'Bannon is a wonderful combination of past, presentand future,'' Madison, a historian at Indiana University, said in1996.
O'Bannon took positions that many of his Democratic counterpartsin other states might deem too conservative. He wanted to place a7-foot stone monument with the Ten Commandments on the grounds ofthe state Capitol until the courts said no.
While a legislator, he had been the prime sponsor of thelegislation that reimposed Indiana's death penalty in the 1970s. Asgovernor, O'Bannon allowed seven executions to occur without delaybut recently granted a 60-day reprieve in one case to allow for DNAtesting.
O'Bannon had succeeded his father in the state Senate in 1970and held the seat until becoming lieutenant governor. He hadactually sought the governor's seat in 1987, but after Bayh enteredthe race, O'Bannon became the much younger man's running mate. Thepair won election that year and then won a second term in 1991.
Over eight years as lieutenant governor, O'Bannon quietly builtties with farmers, business people and party leaders in preparationfor his own gubernatorial run. He was not opposed when he soughtthe Democratic nomination for governor in 1996.
''Frank O'Bannon is the ultimate public servant, the kind ofpublic servant we should all strive to be,'' said Vi Simpson, whoserved with O'Bannon in the Indiana Senate. ''He had many choicesin his life -- he was a lawyer, he is a lawyer who owns a familybusiness, and he could have gone down many roads -- and he chose alifetime of devotion and dedication to the people of thisstate.''
O'Bannon graduated from Corydon High School in 1948 and receiveda bachelor's degree in government from Indiana University in 1952.He served two years in the Air Force and then earned his law degreefrom IU in 1957.
That same year he married Judy Asmus, whom he had met on a blinddate in college. They returned to Corydon, where he started a lawpractice and spent time at the family-owned newspaper, the CorydonDemocrat. Even as governor, he remained chairman of the O'BannonPublishing Co., which publishes weekly newspapers in Harrison andCrawford counties.
The O'Bannons have three children, Polly, Jennifer and Jonathon,and five grandchildren.
Look for local reaction to the governor's death in Monday'sedition of the Daily News.
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