DiCicco will not seek fifth term on Philadelphia Council
Without the "fire in my belly" to wage the bruising political campaign necessary to keep his job, City Councilman Frank DiCicco said Sunday that he would not seek reelection this year after four terms in office.
Without the "fire in my belly" to wage the bruising political campaign necessary to keep his job, City Councilman Frank DiCicco said Sunday that he would not seek reelection this year after four terms in office.
Despite strong poll numbers, DiCicco, 64, decided the fallout from a broken promise to retire next year as part of the city's Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) would cost more energy and cash than he wanted to spend.
"The numbers show me winning, but I don't have the stomach to go through this for another 10 weeks," DiCicco said in an interview Sunday night. At least four other Democrats are circulating petitions to run for his seat in the May primary; nominating petitions for city offices are due Tuesday.
DiCicco was one of three remaining Council members expected to seek reelection using a legal loophole that allows city employees to collect lump-sum pension payments without having to leave their jobs. DiCicco, whose First District covers South Philadelphia and the Delaware riverfront up past Fishtown, is due a $424,646 DROP payment in January.
Democratic Majority Leader Marian B. Tasco, who is set to collect $478,057, is expected to cruise to victory in the Ninth District in Northwest Philadelphia; Republican Minority Whip Frank Rizzo, like DiCicco, has been scrambling for a way to get out of his DROP commitment. Rizzo is scheduled to receive $194,518.
The perk is now responsible, directly or indirectly, for the retirement of five Council members. Councilwoman Joan L. Krajewski, the first member to return to office after collecting her DROP payment in 2008, will not run again. Council President Anna C. Verna and Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, both Democrats, and Republican Councilman Jack Kelly decided to honor their commitment to retire and will not seek reelection.
DROP requires participants to commit to a retirement date four years in the future, allowing them to amass pension payments as though they had retired, while still working and collecting a salary. Those payments are doled out in a lump sum when the employees leave the city payroll.
Saying he regretted signing up for DROP, DiCicco had volunteered to return his $117,991 Council salary if reelected. Then he introduced a bill to allow him and others enrolled in DROP to withdraw from the program; participation is currently irrevocable, at least according to the law's wording. But DiCicco's bill has not been scheduled for a hearing.
"I tried to figure out a way I can do this, and that didn't work out. It's over," DiCicco said.
But DiCicco, first elected in 1995, had other problems, as well. Still a loyal friend of imprisoned former Democratic State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, DiCicco has made a number of anti-Fumo enemies in his time. One, former state Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro, vowed to challenge the DROP loophole - and DiCicco's candidacy - in court.
DiCicco had only two ward leaders in his district circulating petitions for him.
Another powerful ward leader, Matt Myers, is solidly behind Mark Squilla, president of the Whitman Council neighborhood organization in South Philadelphia. DiCicco is expected to support Squilla.
Other Democratic candidates include lawyer Vern Anastasio, who has challenged DiCicco before; gun-control activist Joe Grace, who was a spokesman for former Mayor John F. Street; and Jeff Hornstein, an organizer for the Service Employees International Union.