mayor, Flaherty successfully opposed the Early Action Program, a project which included the development of Skybus. At the end of his tenure, the dispute over this program was resolved by a study performed through the agreement of Flaherty, the county commissioners, representatives of labor and the City Council. The study recommended the abandonment of Skybus and the use, instead, of steel wheel on steel rail technology. This recommendation was adopted by the County transit agency. His administration's track record on racial and minority equality was mixed. He was criticized in the African-American community for opposing busing desegregation, and he dismantled the existing majority-black Freedom House Ambulance Service in favor of a new, predominantly white city paramedic system, an action which some attributed to the mayor's racism. One of his early appointments was former Duquesne University and Boston Celtics basketball star Chuck Cooper, as Director of Parks and Recreation. He eliminated the Police Tactical Police Force unit, which was associated by African-Americans with racism during the late 1960s and especially the disturbances that erupted after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Pittsburgh was the first major city in Pennsylvania to adopt a successful affirmative action program for minorities and women. Deputy attorney general Flaherty was a prominent supporter of Jimmy Carter during the 1976 United States presidential election. After Carter was elected, he nominated Flaherty to serve as the 16th United States deputy attorney general. Flaherty served under Griffin Bell and was succeeded in office by Benjamin Civiletti. After Flaherty left the Carter administration, he supported the Ted Kennedy 1980 presidential campaign. Senate and gubernatorial elections Flaherty was the Democratic Party nominee in the 1974 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, losing to incumbent Republican Senator Richard Schweiker. Flaherty was also the Democratic nominee for governor of Pennsylvania in 1978 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, losing in the general election to Republican Dick Thornburgh, who would go on to become United States attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and President George H. W. Bush. In 1980, he again ran statewide as the Democratic nominee for United States Senate. Flaherty was defeated by Republican Arlen Specter, winning 48% of the vote. County Commissioner Flaherty was elected to the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners in November 1983. He supported longtime commissioner and fellow Democrat Tom Foerster's long-term goal of building a world class airport in Allegheny County. This became a reality in 1992 when