HARRISBURG, Pa., July 7 -- A new rock song inspired by the 1987 public suicide of Pennsylvania Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer is no hit with the dead man's friends and family. 'It does dredge up old and difficult memories and emotions,' former Dwyer aide Greg Penny said Friday of 'Hey Man Nice Shot,' a song by the Chicago-based group Filter. On Jan. 22, 1987, Dwyer put a loaded gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger during a televised news conference in Harrisburg, one day before he was scheduled to be sentenced on a bribery and conspiracy conviction. Filter band member Richard Patrick, who wrote the song now climbing the alternative rock charts, said it was inspired by Dwyer's suicide. '(The song) is about a public official who committed suicide at a press conference,' Patrick is quoted as saying in the August issue of Request magazine. 'It's about a guy that kind of made a statement, a final one. He had the guts to stand up for what he believed.' Patrick said he didn't mean to offend anyone. 'I really don't want this guy's family to have to deal with it. I don't think it would be fair, and I certainly wouldn't want us to sell any records at the expense of this guy's family.' But Dwyer's widow, now living in Arizona, was offended. 'Oh no,' Joanne Dwyer said upon hearing of the record. Mrs. Dwyer said she was concerned about the song's effect on her children and grandchildren and said she planned to file a strong protest with Warner Bros. Records.
Dwyer, who was convicted of bribery and conspiracy along with former state Republican Chairman Robert Asher, insisted he was innocent until the end, which came at a news conference he called supposedly to announce his resignation. Penny, who was in the room when Dwyer pulled the trigger, said he was willing to give the group the benefit of the doubt. 'Is it a publicity stunt, or was somebody so touched (by the suicide) that it now is an artistic expression?,' Penny said. 'I think that's for listeners to decide.'
