STEVENSVILLE, Md., Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Former transportation secretary House leader and Senator Brock Adams, D-Wash., died Friday at age 77 in Stevensville, Md.
The Carter administration cabinet official died in his home following a struggle with Parkison's disease.
Adams spent 12 years in Congress, gradually gaining prominence as one of the House's leading Democrats, for his early support of civil rights legislation, extending the vote to 18-year-olds, and supporting the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1967, he broke with President Lyndon Johnson over the escalation of the Vietnam War.
In 1973 Adams was unanimously elected House Whip, and in 1975 was elected chairman of the House Budget Committee where he wielded his influence over the national budget during the Ford Republican administration.
In 1976 he was tapped by President Carter to be transportation secretary but quit in frustration in 1979.
He worked as a Washington lawyer and lobbyist for a Seattle firm until 1986 when he ran for the Seante from Washington state, defeating Republican Slate Gorton.
Adams did not seek re-election following accusations of sexual harassment, charges he denied.
