ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 10, 1996 TAG: 9601100146
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: TULSA, OKLA.
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
Former Rep. Mike Synar, an Oklahoma maverick who took on the powerful tobacco and gun lobbies while representing a conservative district for 16 years, died Tuesday of brain cancer. He was 45.
Synar died at his Washington home six months after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and more than a year after his surprising Democratic primary runoff loss to a political unknown.
Synar led the charge in the 1980s against the Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction plan, which was considered a test of Congress' will to cut the budget and was embraced by most members. He introduced legislation to restrict tobacco advertising, helped pass a bill requiring warning labels on smokeless tobacco, and sought to have the Food and Drug Administration regulate the industry.
His liberal voting record finally did him in during the 1994 primary, when he failed to get a majority against two little-known opponents.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 30 linesby CNB