Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Knoll dies at 78

Tenure damaged by allegations
Under the state Constitution, Knoll will be replaced by the Senate President Pro Tempore, Joseph B. Scarnati III, R-Jefferson, who plants to retain his Senate seat.

In a statement, Scarnati said Knoll "embodied the type of character expected of true, effective public servants."

Knoll's tenure as treasurer had been damaged by allegations that a former campaign aide used his position to benefit from the sale of state bonds. Knoll was never implicated, but it came up repeatedly in the campaign.

Knoll was born in Sept. 3, 1930. Her father, Nicholas Baker, was the mayor of McKees Rocks, a Pittsburgh suburb. She originally tried nursing school, but disliked it, and went to Duquesne University to study history and education.

She met her husband, Charles Knoll, while she was a student and married him just before graduating.

She worked for local Democratic candidates, became a member of the party's state committee and started working for PennDOT in the early 1970s.

In 1976, the party asked her to run for state treasurer. She lost to Robert E. Casey, a Cambria County official who was unrelated to future governor Robert P. Casey.

She ran for treasurer again in 1984, losing in the primary by fewer than 15,000 votes.

Changed her mind about running for office
She pledged to never run for office again, but changed her mind when her husband, a postmaster, died in 1987. All four of their children encouraged her to do so.

Knoll, affectionately known as CBK, won handily and pledged to clean up a treasurer's office that she said was a mess. She said she was proud the agency provided $25 million in loans to small businesses through development centers at colleges and universities, as well as $100 million in low-rate first-home mortgages to single parents, first-time buyers and veterans. She also oversaw the startup of a college savings program for parents.

In 1996, her daughter Mina ran for treasurer and lost.

Knoll raised eyebrows several times inside and outside the Capitol.

She once agreed to be the guest of honor at a fundraiser for a high-ranking Republican and was criticized by Democrats for agreeing to co-sponsor a fundraiser for another GOP state representative. Knoll ultimately canceled both plans.

In 2005, Knoll was forced to apologize to the family of a Marine killed in Iraq for showing up uninvited for his funeral and giving out a business card. Family members said she made a remark about "our government" being against the war.

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