Election to first term Although not being elected yet, Rizzo essentially functioned as mayor before the election, as Mayor James Tate had announced on television that he was retiring and naming Rizzo "de facto" mayor of Philadelphia. Asked if this was legal, Tate only laughed and replied that he was retiring. Rizzo finally ran for mayor in 1971. That year, he faced
Democratic mayoral candidates Rep.
William J. Green III, a former Democratic city chairman; State Rep.
Hardy Williams; and former city councilman
David Cohen. Cohen withdrew from the race and endorsed Green. Rizzo then defeated Green and Williams in the
Democratic primary. Running as a
Democrat in the November 1971 election, Rizzo defeated former (and future) Councilman-at-Large and Chamber of Commerce President
Thacher Longstreth. Unlike his opponents, Rizzo did not issue campaign position papers; he thought his slogan, "firm but fair," sufficiently explained his expected role.
First term Rizzo was not without adversaries, even at the start of his first term.
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 police for political espionage; Dilworth's allegations launched a new and enduring feud between the two. Grateful for the positive publicity local media had given him as police commissioner, Rizzo awarded jobs to two dozen local reporters. This
quid pro quo caused suspicion and, more significantly, removed Rizzo's most enthusiastic supporters from the media. The change in ownership of
The Philadelphia Inquirer and
Daily News also changed the bias of media coverage. The two newspapers had previously been owned by the Annenberg family, and both had given Commissioner Rizzo broad and favorable coverage. But the papers were sold to Knight Newspapers, later
Knight Ridder. By the start of Rizzo's first term, the staff of the
Inquirer, friendly to Rizzo, had largely been supplanted by younger journalists, led by one of the nation's most aggressive young editors,
Eugene Roberts, formerly national editor of
The New York Times. Roberts and his staff emphasized investigative reporting, and the Rizzo administration, among other local institutions, was the subject of many critical stories by the Times. A
conservative Democrat, Rizzo supported the
1972 reelection campaign of Republican president
Richard Nixon. Rizzo praised Nixon as "the greatest president this country [has] ever had." Rewarding Rizzo's support, the victorious Nixon granted more federal funding to Philadelphia. But the action alienated many of Rizzo's supporters in his own party. The Democratic city committee, Democrats on the city council, and party chairman Peter Camiel viewed Rizzo's action as a betrayal.
Lie detector scandal (1973) Rizzo clashed with the media well into his term. He held frequent press conferences in which he discussed matters in colorful and often bombastic language. After Camiel accused Rizzo of offering patronage in exchange for influencing the choice of candidates for district attorney and city comptroller, Rizzo called Camiel a liar. A reporter from the
Philadelphia Daily News asked Rizzo if he would submit to a
polygraph test to prove Camiel was lying. Rizzo agreed, as did Camiel. "If this machine says a man lied, he lied," Rizzo famously said before the test. But the polygraph indicated that Rizzo had lied and Camiel had not. The scandal ended any hope Rizzo had of becoming
governor. He discontinued his press conferences for nearly two years and attempted to rebuild his public support by appealing directly to voters.
Election to second term In the 1975 Democratic primary, Rizzo defeated State Senator
Louis G. Hill, Dilworth's nephew, who was supported by Camiel. In the November election, Rizzo defeated independent candidate Charles Bowser, a leading black attorney and former City Councilman at Large, and
Thomas M. Foglietta, who later represented a large portion of the city in Congress.
Second term During Rizzo's second term, black community activist and future Philadelphia Mayor
W. Wilson Goode sued the city in federal court, alleging racial discrimination in 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 influential
"Philadelphia Plan", calling for
affirmative action in civil service hiring and promotions. An interesting feature of Rizzo's mayoralty was the establishment and mayor sanctioning of a publicly funded "anti-defamation agency" to combat pejorative remarks about Philadelphia. The agency's best-publicized action was the boycott of
S.O.S. Soap Pads, after a television commercial broadcast nationally referred to the city disparagingly.
The manufacturer withdrew the offending commercial. Construction began on
The Gallery at Market East shopping mall and the
Center City Commuter Connection, a commuter tunnel that connected and combined the city's old and historically independent railroad systems, the
Reading Railroad and the
Pennsylvania Railroad. 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 and generous municipal labor contracts and expanded patronage hiring. During Rizzo's second term, two reporters at
The Philadelphia Inquirer, William K. Marimow and Jon Neuman, began a long series about Philadelphia police department's patterns of police brutality, intimidation, coercion and disregard for constitutional rights. Rizzo opponents, while greatly disheartened, elected
Edward G. Rendell as district attorney in 1977 and organized a campaign to elect anti-Rizzo Democratic committee persons and elected officials in the 1978 primaries.
Attempt for third consecutive term Facing Philadelphia's two consecutive term limit, Rizzo persuaded the
Philadelphia City Council to place a charter change question on the ballot in 1978 that would have allowed him to run for a third consecutive term in 1979. In a record turnout for a Philadelphia municipal election, Philadelphians voted two to one against the change, blocking Rizzo from running in 1979. In that election, Republican gubernatorial candidate
Dick Thornburgh won a larger-than-expected percentage of the black vote (for a Republican) and the governorship against a heavily favored Democratic opponent. The anti-charter change organization soon supported a "Clean Sweep" ticket for municipal offices in 1979, including former Rep. William J. Green III, who was elected mayor. Later on Rizzo tried to run again; this time his main Democratic opponent was the first black mayor of Philadelphia, Wilson Goode. During this run he tried to connect more with Philadelphia's black population, which proved ineffectual as he won only three percent of the black vote and lost to Goode in a closely contested election.
Historical assessment Rizzo's mayoralty has received retrospective criticism for his alleged racism and the
police brutality that took place under his watch. A 1985 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the
University of Illinois at Chicago saw Rizzo ranked as the worst American big-city mayor in office since 1820. When the latter survey was limited only to mayors that were in office after 1960, the results saw Rizzo ranked as the absolute worst. ==Lawsuits==