Victor E. Moore

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Victor Edward Moore (November 13, 1897 – August 22, 1982) was a Philadelphia businessman and Democratic politician. He served three terms on the Philadelphia City Council and as chairman of the Philadelphia Gas Works.

Early life[edit]

Moore was born in Illinois in 1897. After moving to Philadelphia as a child, he attended West Philadelphia High School, where he excelled in baseball and football.[1] While attending the University of Pennsylvania, he also took up rowing, which became a lifelong pursuit.[1] Through rowing, Moore became associated with Jack Kelly Sr., the Olympic medallist and Democratic politico.[2] In 1935, he was elected president of the Schuylkill Navy's Malta Boat Club.[3] He also became successful in the tool and equipment business.[2]

Philadelphia politics[edit]

Through his connections with Kelly, Moore became involved in local politics, being appointed executive secretary of the Democratic City Committee in 1940.[2] The following year, Governor Arthur H. James appointed Moore as a Democratic member of Philadelphia's new bipartisan Registration Commission.[4] Later that year, Moore was the subject of a write-in campaign for mayor, which city officials declared invalid.[5] After World War II began, he became involved in the Civil Defense Corps.[6] In 1943, there was a grand jury investigation of the Registration Commission, which Moore called a "fishing expedition."[7] No charges were brought, and in 1945 Governor Edward Martin reappointed the entire board, including Moore.[8] He was among the group of investors that bought the Philadelphia Eagles in 1949.[1] In 1951, Michael DiSalle appointed Moore to a temporary post with the Korean War-era Office of Price Stabilization, a federal agency devoted to price controls.[2]

City Council[edit]

Later that year, after Philadelphia adopted a new city charter, Moore ran for an at-large seat on the reformed city council.[9] He was elected, part of a wave election that swept the Republicans from power for the first time in 67 years.[10] Moore won the highest vote total of any of the seven at-large candidates elected.[10] In Council, he chaired the Transportation and Public Utilities Committee.[11] In 1952, just a year after the city charter's adoption, Moore called for revisions to it that would take certain powers from appointed officials and return them to City Council.[12] That same year, he advocated tearing down Philadelphia's City Hall and replacing it with a modern office building (the proposal was not adopted).[13]

Moore resisted calls from Democratic Mayor Joseph S. Clark Jr. to increase the city budget and raise taxes, proposing a budget smaller by $19 million.[14] Clark's budget eventually passed Council without Moore's vote.[15] Moore continued to oppose Clark and the charter, joining the efforts of James Tate and Michael J. Towey to weaken the charter's civil service reforms (they were unsuccessful).[16] He was re-elected in 1955, again leading all candidates for at-large seats.[17] In the next council session, Moore became chairman of the Finance Committee.[18]

On the Finance Committee, Moore developed a reputation as the city's "financial watchdog" as he scrutinized spending requests from the new mayor, Richardson Dilworth.[19] He served as Council's representative on the Philadelphia Transportation Company's board of directors, and fought for the construction of the Delaware Expressway.[1] In addition to fighting tax increases, Moore and Tate worked to keep utilities costs from increasing excessively.[20] In 1958, Moore considered a run for Lieutenant Governor, but changed his mind when Clark, now a United States Senator, blocked the Democratic Party establishment from endorsing him.[21] Instead, he ran for a third term on City Council in 1959, and garnered the second-most votes of any at-large candidate.[22]

Gas Works and grand jury[edit]

In 1960, Moore investigated waste within the Philadelphia Gas Works.[23] At the same time, he found himself (and fellow Councilman John F. Byrne Sr.,) under investigation after campaign contribution pay-to-play allegations concerning work done by city contractors to rebuild the Market–Frankford Elevated Line.[24] He resigned from Council in 1962 to become chairman of the Gas Works, where he promised to root out waste and corruption.[1] The grand jury investigation led to an indictment in 1963, but Moore was found not guilty.[25] He resigned from the Gas Works post in 1965 and retired to Florida in 1967.[1] He remained there until 1982, when he died and was buried in West Palm Beach's Woodlawn Cemetery.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Inquirer 1982.
  2. ^ a b c d Inquirer 1951a.
  3. ^ Inquirer 1935.
  4. ^ Lush 1941.
  5. ^ Inquirer 1941.
  6. ^ Inquirer 1942.
  7. ^ Inquirer 1943.
  8. ^ Miller 1945.
  9. ^ Inquirer 1951b.
  10. ^ a b Inquirer 1951c.
  11. ^ Feist 1952.
  12. ^ Inquirer 1952a.
  13. ^ Inquirer 1952b.
  14. ^ Weir 1952.
  15. ^ Schraga 1952.
  16. ^ Miller 1954.
  17. ^ Inquirer 1955.
  18. ^ Inquirer 1956.
  19. ^ Schraga 1956.
  20. ^ Inquirer 1957.
  21. ^ Inquirer 1958.
  22. ^ Inquirer 1959.
  23. ^ Inquirer 1960.
  24. ^ Collins 1962.
  25. ^ Inquirer 1964.

Sources[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Victor_E._Moore&oldid=1161375975"