Tom Knox
Age: 66. Residence: Rittenhouse Square. Education: Dropped out of Roman Catholic High School; earned GED in the Navy; certificates from the American College in Bryn Mawr as a chartered life underwriter and certified financial planner.
Age:
66.
Residence: Rittenhouse Square.
Education: Dropped out of Roman Catholic High School; earned GED in the Navy; certificates from the American College in Bryn Mawr as a chartered life underwriter and certified financial planner.
Business experience: Chief executive officer, United HealthCare of Pennsylvania, 2004-06; CEO/chairman, Fidelity Insurance Group, 1999-2004; CEO/chairman, Crusader Holding Corp., 1988-2002; state rehabilitator, Fidelity Mutual Insurance, 1993-95; CEO, Knox Group Inc., 1987-92; CEO, Kasser Industries and Gimco Holding, 1988-90; CEO, Preferred Benefits Corp., 1967-86.
Political and government experience: Deputy mayor for management and productivity, 1992-93.
Family: Wife, Linda; two adult sons, T.J. and Brandon.
Add 1,000 officers, and put video cameras in high-crime areas.
Lobby the state to let Philadelphia enact gun-control laws.
Create Civic Action Centers for community policing, with police, judges, prosecutors and parole officers assigned to specific neighborhoods.
Implement a nonemergency 311 system to decrease the burden on 911.
Create a cabinet post to coordinate antiviolence efforts.
Expand funding for Community College of Philadelphia programs to give marketable skills to ex-offenders upon reentry into the community.
On funding: Increase the district's share of city property taxes if the state provides more funding. The state should give "hundreds of millions" more.
On governance: Seek to regain control of the schools, but keep the state involved. Increase the mayor's appointees on the School Reform Commission from two to three and reduce gubernatorial appointees to two.
On education: Urge getting rid of Edison and possibly other outside managers of public schools. Offer career training for students and adults. Focus on early-childhood education and reducing the dropout rate.
On charter schools: Oppose a moratorium on new charters. Keep open those that perform well.
On safety: Remove more disruptive students from schools.
On the ethics plan: "Wholeheartedly" endorses the Committee of Seventy's agenda. Knox was initially skeptical of some provisions, but signed on after a discussion with committee board members.
On public financing of campaigns: Opposes because Philadelphians "don't want to pay somebody to get elected."
On campaign contribution caps: Supports them. Knox says the caps should stay in force even when self-funded candidates - such as he is - spend millions of their own dollars.