Joseph Alioto
Joseph Lawrence Alioto was an American politician who served as the 36th mayor of San Francisco, California, from 1968 to 1976.
Biography
Alioto was born in San Francisco in 1916. His father, Giuseppe Alioto, was a Sicilian immigrant who owned and operated several fish processing companies. His mother, Domenica Mae Lazio, was born in San Francisco. His parents met on a fishing boat while escaping the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.Education
He attended Sacred Heart High School. He graduated with honors from St. Mary's College, Moraga, California, in 1937 and from law school at The Catholic University of America with honors in 1940.Law practice
Alioto worked for the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department and then for the Board of Economic Warfare. He returned to San Francisco after World War II and started an antitrust practice, representing Walt Disney and Samuel Goldwyn, among others, eventually becoming a millionaire. He was on the briefs in Radovich v. National Football League and argued Continental Ore Co. v. Union Carbide & Carbon Corp., 370 U.S. 690, an antitrust landmark, and Utah Pie Co. v. Continental Baking Co., 386 U.S. 685, all three Supreme Court of the United States cases. In Radovich, the Supreme Court held that professional football, unlike baseball, was subject to antitrust laws. Continental Ore is one of the most comprehensive and important antitrust cases ever decided by the Supreme Court.In 1980, he represented Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders in a landmark antitrust case entitled Los Angeles Coliseum Commission v. The NFL. The case established the right of football franchises to move to football markets throughout the United States without the approval of other franchise owners. In 1993, he represented his father-in-law Billy Sullivan in his lawsuit against the NFL. The court ruled that Sullivan was forced by the league to sell his team at below market value and awarded him $114 million.
Early government career
Alioto served on the San Francisco Board of Education from 1948 to 1954; and in 1955, he served as the first Chairman of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.Mayoralty
Alioto signed on as campaign finance chairman for the mayoral candidacy of California State Senator J. Eugene McAteer in the 1967 San Francisco mayoral election. When McAteer collapsed and died while playing a game of handball, Alioto entered the race. John Shelley, the incumbent, bowed out, allegedly because of poor health but probably because Alioto was more pro-development than Shelley; additionally, Shelley was expected to lose a re-match against his 1963 opponent, Republican Harold Dobbs. Alioto defeated Dobbs, 44.2%-37.8%, in an 18-candidate field. He would be reelected in 1971.Alioto delivered the speech nominating Hubert Humphrey at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. There were rumors that Humphrey would select Alioto as his running mate, but Humphrey selected Edmund Muskie.
An article in the September 23, 1969, issue of Look magazine claimed that Alioto had business and personal ties to six leaders of the "La Cosa Nostra," including Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno and Frank Bompensiero, both of whom were FBI informants. Alioto sued Look for over $12 million, claiming that he didn't know any of the men named in the article and had never had dealings with them.
The case was fraught with complications and took nearly eight years to resolve; the FBI was unwilling to corroborate facts they knew to be true because they were fearful of giving up their informants, and the courts were struggling to apply the standard of "actual malice" on statements that appeared to be false. After the first three rounds all resulted in a hung jury, Alioto was ultimately awarded a $350,000 judgment. This judgment was based on just one claim, a story about a series of meetings at the Nut Tree Restaurant in Vacaville, California that appeared to have been fabricated by the magazine's source. The magazine knew they could not verify this part of the story but published it anyway, leading the court to determine that claims were made "with reckless disregard for their truth."
Alioto would maintain that he did not know the mafia figures listed and that the article was planted by political opponents looking to injure his career. FBI documents later acquired by the San Diego Union demonstrated that Alioto was indeed connected to the underworld and had lied repeatedly under oath, but Alioto won his appeals in court and was never charged with perjury.
In January 1970, the State of Washington, three cities, a port authority, and eight public utilities brought a civil suit against Alioto because he split a $2.3 million fee in an antitrust case with Washington State Attorney General John J. O'Connell and an O’Connell deputy, George Faler. Attorney General O’Connell had maintained Public Utility Districts as private clients during his time as AG. The Public Utility Districts were suing electrical manufactures that were fixing prices at an improperly high level. The case began in 1962 and O’Connell retained Alioto, a very successful anti-trust attorney, to work on the case. Originally, Alioto agreed to receive 15% of what was awarded with a $1 million cap. Later, O’Connell, apparently without telling his clients, abolished the fee ceiling. Alioto ended up receiving approximately $2.3 million and gave $802,815 of those fees to O’Connell and Faler. The state and other groups sued to have the entire $2.3 million returned; Alioto successfully sought a change of venue from Washington to San Francisco. The trial took six months and jury unanimously found the three were entitled to the $2.3 million.
Alioto was also indicted by a federal grand jury in March 1971 on bribery charges because of the means by which the fees were awarded. When the case went to court, Alioto was cleared of the federal charges by a judge who ordered acquittal because he was convinced a jury would not convict when it considered the evidence.
Under California law it was illegal for public employees to strike. Nevertheless, city employees called a strike in March 1974, picketing City Hall and shutting down municipal services. After a week Mayor Alioto and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors agreed to the strikers' demands. The city controller, however, refused to pay out what he believed were illegal salaries. In April 1975 the California Supreme Court ordered the city controller to pay the salaries, with Justice Mathew Tobriner finding that contracts secured through illegal strikes are still legally enforceable.
Major crime became a problem with the Zodiac Killer, the Symbionese Liberation Army attacks and the Black Power Zebra Murders all occurring during Alioto's mayoralty.
During the Zebra Murders in 1974, Alioto's wife, Angelina Alioto, vanished, reappearing after 18 days to claim that she had taken off to "punish" her husband for neglect. During the time Angelina was missing, she toured the missions of California as part of a religious pilgrimage. Angelina filed divorce proceedings against him in 1975. He remarried in 1978.
Alioto ran in the 1974 Democratic primary for governor, finishing second behind Jerry Brown.
In July 1975 the LAPD unexpectedly announced a pay raise. For years the San Francisco Police Department had been the top paid in the state, with the San Francisco Fire Department guaranteed the same pay. The SF police promptly demanded they be paid more than the LAPD. The Board of Supervisors, however, determined that the pay raise would drive the city into deficit, and unanimously approved a raise only half of what the police requested.
California law still prohibited public employees from striking. The police and firefighters elected to strike anyway, with 90% illegally abandoning their posts.
The city then obtained a court order declaring the strike illegal and enjoining the officers to return to work. The court messenger delivering the order was met with violence and the police continued to strike.
Only managers and African-American officers remained, with 45 officers and 3 fire trucks responsible for the whole city. Supervisor Dianne Feinstein pleaded for Mayor Alioto to ask Governor Jerry Brown to call out the National Guard to patrol the streets but Alioto refused.
When enraged citizens confronted police at the picket lines the police arrested them. Federal authorities were forced to intervene after striking firefighters attempted to seize San Francisco International Airport. Heavy drinking on the picket line became common and after striking police officers started shooting out streetlights the ACLU obtained a court order prohibiting strikers from carrying their service revolvers. Again, the police ignored the court order.
On August 20 a bomb detonated at the Mayor's home with a sign reading "Don’t Threaten Us" left on his lawn. On August 21 Mayor Alioto advised the Supervisors that they should concede to the strikers' demands. The Supervisors unanimously refused. Mayor Alioto then immediately declared a state of emergency, assumed "legislative powers", and granted the strikers’ demands.
The Supervisors and taxpayers sued but the court reaffirmed that contracts obtained through illegal strikes are still legally enforceable. Nevertheless, the Supervisors placed on the November ballot charter initiatives revoking the mayor's emergency powers, requiring police to be automatically fired if they strike, preventing firemen from holding second jobs, and requiring future pay raises to be averaged with California's other large cities. All the ballot initiatives passed by extremely large margins.
In 1974 and 1975, Alioto served as president of the United States Conference of Mayors.