Frank Rizzo
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Francis Lazarro Rizzo (October 23, 1920 – July 16, 1991) served two terms as mayor of Philadelphia, from January 1972 to January 1980; he was Police Commissioner for four years prior to that.
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[edit] Police Commissioner
Rizzo joined the Philadelphia Police Department in the 1940s, rising through the ranks to become Police Commissioner in 1967. He served in that role during the turbulent years of 1967 to 1971, garnering a reputation as a tough, hands-on Commissioner.
One of the most notorious moves by Rizzo's police officers were the raids on the Philadelphia offices of the Black Panther Party on August 31, 1970. The raids took place a week before the Panthers planned to convene a "People's Revolutionary Convention" at Temple University. As pretext, the police used recent killings of two cops (one incident was the August 29, 1970 shooting of Fairmount Park Police Sgt. Frank Von Colln), which were not connected to the Panthers. Rizzo forced the arrested Panthers to strip and stand naked in front of the news cameras. The picture ran on the front page of the Philadelphia Daily News. [1] [2]
In other respects, Rizzo was also not a run-of-the-mill Commissioner. He sometimes quarreled with Philadelphia Mayor James H. J. Tate. He was boisterous and brooding, particularly to media. A biography of Rizzo, with an introduction written by future Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney, recounted: "Of one group of anti-police demonstrators, he is reported to have said, 'When I'm finished with them, I'll make Attila the Hun look like a fag' ". A female reporter that covered the Rizzo years, Andrea Mitchell (now of NBC News), recounted routine brutish behavior as part of a broad pattern of bravado. [3]
Rizzo resigned in 1971 to run for Mayor.
[edit] Mayor of Philadelphia
[edit] Election to first term
In 1971, Rizzo faced three opponents for the 1971 Democratic mayoral nomination: Congressman William J. Green, a former Democratic City Chairman; State Representative (later State Senator) Hardy Williams, and former City Councilman David Cohen (later a long serving -- 1980 to his death in 2005 -- Councilman at Large). Cohen withdrew from the race and endorsed Green. Rizzo then won over Green and Williams.
In the November election, Rizzo defeated former (and future) Councilman at Large and Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce President W. Thacher Longstreth. Rizzo, unlike his opponents, did not issue campaign position papers; he felt his slogan "Firm but Fair" explained his view of his role.
[edit] First term
From the start of his first term in office, Rizzo faced many controversial political problems. The Philadelphia Inquirer began running a negative series about the Philadelphia police department during Rizzo's tenure as police commissioner almost immediately after the election. The Evening Bulletin interviewed former Mayor and School Board President Richardson Dilworth about allegations he made in the San Francisco Chronicle that Rizzo had used the Philadelphia police force for political espionage; Dilworth's elaboration of these previously obscure charges launched a new and enduring feud between two of Philadelphia's most charismatic politicians.
Grateful for the positive publicity that local media had given him as Police Commissioner, Rizzo gave jobs to about two dozen local reporters. This apparent quid pro quo caused suspicion about Rizzo's previously good press, and, more importantly, removed Rizzo's most enthusiastic supporters from the media. As result, Rizzo was subject to greater criticism
Two months after being sworn in, Rizzo endorsed Richard Nixon, a Republican, for re-election. In return for Rizzo's support, the victorious Nixon administration granted more federal funding to Philadelphia. However, Rizzo alienated many Democrats by supporting a candidate of the opposing party. The Democratic City Committee, especially, viewed Rizzo's support of Nixon as a betrayal. Democratic Party Chairman Peter Camiel and many Democrats on the City Council were also displeased with Rizzo's endorsement.
Rizzo's debacles with the media continued for some time into his term. He was known for frequently holding press conferences, where he discussed various relevant and irrelevant matters, often in colorful language and a bombastic attitude. In one incident, after Rizzo was accused by Democratic Party Chairman Peter Camiel of offering Camiel patronage jobs in exchange for permitting Rizzo to choose the candidates for District Attorney and City Comptroller, Rizzo retorted that Camiel was a liar. One reporter from the Philadelphia Daily News asked Rizzo if he would submit to a polygraph test in order to prove that Camiel was lying. Rizzo agreed, as did Camiel. City Commerce Director Harry Belinger, Rizzo's ally, also agreed to be tested as a witness for Rizzo. Rizzo was extremely confident that the test would come out in his favor. "If this machine says a man lied, he lied," Rizzo said famously before taking the test. However, the polygraph test revealed that Rizzo and Belinger lied about offering Camiel the positions in return for choosing candidates, and Camiel was found to have told the truth. The scandal was widely reported and politically ruinous to Rizzo's career; it ended any hope Rizzo had of becoming Governor of Pennsylvania. This scandal also ended Rizzo's close relationship with the press; he discontinued his press conferences for nearly two years, preferring to rebuild public support on a personal basis.
[edit] Election to second term
In the 1975 Democratic primary, Rizzo defeated from State Senator Louis Hill, Dilworth's nephew, who was supported by Camiel. In the November election, Rizzo defeated independent candidate Charles Bowser, a leading African-American attorney and former City Councilman at Large, and Thomas M. Foglietta, who later represented a large portion of the city in Congress.
[edit] Second term developments
It was during his tenure as mayor that African-American community activist and future Philadelphia mayor Wilson Goode sued the city in federal court, alleging racial discrimination within the ranks of the police and fire departments. The fire department was headed by Joseph Rizzo, the mayor's brother. The suit led to the adoption of the controversial "Philadelphia Plan" by the Nixon administration, calling for affirmative action in civil service hiring and promotions.
An interesting feature of Rizzo's mayoralty was the establishment, with his complete approval, of a publicly-funded "Anti-Defamation Agency" to combat pejorative jokes sometimes told about Philadelphia. The agency's most publicized action was a boycott of S.O.S. Soap Pads, after a television commercial aired nationwide in the summer of 1972 which included a disparaging reference to the city. The manufacturer withdrew the offending commercial.
During Rizzo's terms as mayor, construction started on The Gallery shopping mall and the Center City Commuter Tunnel, although Rizzo was not an economic development-oriented mayor.
The Philadelphia Gas Works, known locally as PGW, had been managed by a private company. During Rizzo's tenure, it was taken over by the city. PGW then implemented senior citizens discounts, generous municipal labor contracts and the expansion of patronage hiring. Formerly considered one of the best-managed municipal utilities in the country, it later became a long-running fiscal and management embarrassment to the city.
[edit] Tax increase and recall attempt
In his successful 1975 mayoral campaign, Rizzo had campaigned with the slogan "He held the line on taxes." Then, almost immediately after the election, he got the City Council to increase the city's wage tax from 3.31% to 4.31%, one of the highest in the nation. The juxtaposition of the campaign slogan, which had dominated the airwaves, mailboxes, and telephone polls of the city for months, with the record tax increase infuriated Rizzo's opponents and led fiscal conservatives to join them.
The Philadelphia city charter contained a provision for a recall if 25% of the registered voters signed recall petitions. Americans for Democratic Action, the liberal activist group that had played a key role in moving Philadelphia from Republican to Democratic control in the late 1940's and early 1950's, took the lead in gathering of the needed signatures needed. The committee to recall Rizzo methodically organized the wards of the city, and shocked political professionals by gathering well over the 250,000 signatures required.
The campaign to recall Rizzo attracted many thousands of volunteers and millions of dollars in campaign contributions. Polls showed Rizzo losing by a wide margin. Rizzo's allies counterattacked by challenging the validity of the signatures. They also challenged the constitutionality of the recall procedure itself. Then the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, by a one vote margin, declared the Charter's recall provision to be unconstitutional. The decision was written by Chief Justice Robert N.C. Nix, elected to the Supreme Court with Rizzo's support in 1971.
Rizzo opponents, while greatly disheartened, elected Ed Rendell as District Attorney in 1977, and organized a campaign to elect anti-Rizzo Democratic committee persons and elected officials in the 1978 primaries.
[edit] Third term
Rizzo, facing Philadelphia's two consecutive-term limit, got the Philadelphia City Council to place a Charter Change question on the ballot that would have allowed him to run for a third consecutive term in 1979.
The proposed Charter change had a significant effect on Philadelphia politics. In a record turnout for a Philadelphia municipal election, Philadelphians voted two to one against the change, thus blocking Rizzo from running in 1979. [4] In that election, Republican gubernatorial nominee Dick Thornburgh won a much larger than normal percentage of the black vote (for a Republican) and won the governorship against a heavily favored Democratic opponent. The anti-Charter change organization that was built would support a partially successful "Clean Sweep" ticket for municipal offices in 1979, including former Congressman William J. Green, who was elected Philadelphia Mayor.
[edit] Post-mayoral career
Between 1983 and 1991, Rizzo served as a security consultant -- controversially at The Philadelphia Gas Works, while drawing his city pension -- and hosted one of Philadelphia's most popular radio talk shows, a tradition later emulated by his son, Frank L. Rizzo, Jr.
Rizzo had been a Democrat while mayor, even while supporting Richard Nixon; he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for mayor in 1983, losing to Wilson Goode. In 1986, he switched to the Republican Party, and ran as a Republican in the mayoral elections of 1987 and 1991.
In 1991, Rizzo won the Republican primary against former Philadelphia District Attorney Ron Castille, in a hardball campaign where Rizzo making accusation about Castille's drinking habits and his veracity. Rizzo's win brought some rumblings of a last political hurrah, with Rizzo vowing to break stereotypes associated with his political legacy, and vowing specifically to campaign in black neighborhoods (which, in fact, he did).
For the November contest against Ed Rendell, a gregarious sort with a love for sports, there were also expectations that Rizzo would again employ hardball tactics. On July 16, 1991, Rizzo died of a massive heart attack shortly after his primary victory. He was pronounced dead at 2:12 PM EDT at Thomas Jefferson hospital .
[edit] Funeral and memorials
Rizzo's funeral was legendary, with people lining the streets of the motorcade from the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, where his funeral mass was held, to his burial place in Cheltenham Township, and was carried on live television. He was interred at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
A literally larger than life statue of Mayor Rizzo waving one of his arms in greeting stands in front of Philadelphia's Municipal Services Building. The statue, one of Philadelphia's most recognizable landmarks, was paid for by contributions from Rizzo's family, friends, supporters, and admirers.
A popular site for appearances by political candidates is next to mural portrait of Rizzo in his stronghold of South Philadelphia.
[edit] Family
In 1942 Frank Rizzo married Carmella Silvestri, a candy maker, and they had two children. Their son Frank L. Rizzo, Jr. (March 5, 1943 – ) is a Republican Philadelphia City Councilman. Their daughter Joanna Rizzo Mastronardo (1950– ) graduated Chestnut Hill College in 1972, and married legendary sports bookmaker Joseph "Joe Vito" Mastronardo, Jr., in 1978.[5]Rizzo had only one grandson, Joseph Francis Mastronardo, who was born in 1982.
[edit] Biographies
Sal Paolantonio's book Rizzo: The Last Big Man In Big City America is the current definitive biography; some think it has a somewhat fawning approach [5]. More critical comments on Rizzo's tenure as police commissioner and mayor are found in Andrea Mitchell's book Talking Back. Phylis Kaniss' book, The Media and the Mayor's Race, is an analysis of local journalistic coverage of the campaign, detailing Rizzo's last political campaign up until his death; it contains details on the political hardball he played against Castille, and planned to play against Rendell. [6]
[edit] Political Impact
Rizzo had a tremendous impact on Philadelphia politics. An extremely polarizing figure, Philadelphians either liked him or disliked him, and that broke down along racial lines (notably detailed in the 1987 general election for Mayor, where nearly all whites voted for Rizzo and nearly all non-whites voted for Goode). Even as a Democrat, Rizzo's politics were primarily in the conservative wing of the Democratic party. His political appeal, however, transcended political parties. His switch from the Democratic party to the Republican party spawned a political term, "Rizzocrats" -- people who would follow Rizzo regardless of party affiliation.
Rizzo had a controversial relationship with the media. He sparred with beat reporters, including Andrea Mitchell, who was one of the first female urban beat reporters, and yet hired several into city posts after his re-election in 1975. His relationship with local television news anchor Larry Kane (WPVI-TV, WABC-TV, WCAU-TV, KYW-TV, KYW-AM, and now Comcast CN8) was especially noted. Both Mitchell, in her book Talking Back, and Kane, in his book Larry Kane's Philadelphia [7], said that when they heard about Rizzo's death, they broke down and cried.
[edit] Quotations
- "The streets are safe in Philadelphia -- it's only the people that make them unsafe."[citation needed]
[edit] External links
- Biographical sketch of Rizzo's controversial methods
- The Sayings of Chairman Frank: Or, I Never Saw My Mother Naked Memorable quotes by Frank Rizzo
| Preceded by James Hugh Joseph Tate |
Mayor of Philadelphia 1972–1980 |
Succeeded by William J. Green |
