PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Governor Chafee is hailing Arlen Specter for working against political extremism and toward bipartisanship during his years in the U.S. Senate.
Specter died Sunday at his home in Philadelphia at age 82.
AP photo / Journal files
Senators Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, center, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, address the media from a hotel in Havana, Cuba, in 2002. At left is Specter's wife Joan.
Chafee served seven years in the Senate with Specter, and they were often political allies.
Chafee says Specter put the people's business above partisan concerns, a characteristic Chafee calls increasingly rare.
Specter traveled to Rhode Island in 2006 to campaign for Chafee in his re-election bid. Chafee lost that race.
Both men were Republicans at the time, although they would eventually leave that party.
Chafee became an independent in 2007 and was elected governor in 2010.
Specter became a Democrat in 2009 and lost his seat in 2010.