Sophie Masloff

Sophie Masloff (* 23. December 1917 in Pittsburgh as Sophie Friedman ; † 17th August 2014 in Mount Lebanon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party , which from 1988 to 1994 as the first woman and the first members of the Jewish Faith was Mayoress of Pittsburgh .

Life

Family background, professional and political career

Sophie Friedman came from a Jewish family who immigrated from Romania . Her father, Louis Friedman, an insurance broker, died in 1920 when she was a toddler, leaving her mother Jennie Friedman, who never spoke English, to earn a living for her and three other children from a previous marriage as a worker in a cigar factory. Sophie Friedman only spoke Yiddish until she started school, and after graduating from Fifth Avenue High School in 1935, she began working as an accountant and secretary.

In 1939 she married the security guard Jack Masloff, with whom she was married until his death in 1991. A year earlier, in 1938, she began working as a clerk at the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County , where she worked for 38 years until 1976 and was most recently assistant chief clerk .

Shortly thereafter, she also began her work in the Democratic Party and has served as a delegate at numerous Democratic National Conventions since the 1950s .

On April 27, 1976 Sophie Masloff was elected to the Pittsburgh City Council for the first time and was a member of this until May 6, 1988. On January 4, 1988, she was elected President of the City Council.

Acting Mayoress

After the death of the popular mayor Richard Caliguiri , who died on May 6, 1988 - 20 months before the end of his third term of office - as a result of a rare blood disease , the then 70-year-old Sophie Masloff was appointed provisional mayor as president of the city council on the basis of the city statutes .

The city had been undergoing dramatic change since the late 1970s to offset the loss of the large steel industry with a resilient, diversified economy. In addition, there has since been a redesign of the inner city, sharp cuts in the population and jobs and a realignment of education, culture and quality of life. At first she appeared to be a hopelessly miscast, which was reinforced by her simple speeches. Sometimes she wrote words on the palms of her hands to remind her of them. She also passed much of her responsibilities on to others, so her staff member had to come to help answering questions at public meetings and press conferences.

Unanimous election as mayor in 1989

After a preselection in 1989 ( Primary ) can be had of the Democratic Party against five rival candidates prevail, Sophie Masloff was when the mayoral election on November 7, 1989 in the democratically dominated Pittsburgh and unopposed to the Republican Party with 56,688 (100.0 percent) elected mayor for a four-year term.

In the following years Sophie Masloff achieved innovative changes through the alliance with associations, universities and public groups, which led to a redesign of Pittsburgh by creating new jobs and curbing suburbanization . In a town of 390,000 at that time with numerous working-class districts and an aging population, her familiar demeanor proved to be a political advantage. She called herself an “old Jewish grandmother” and, through her Pittsburgh street dialect, addressed the simpler population groups in particular, greeting them with “Hi, Sophie” or “How ya doin ', Sophie?”.

As mayor, she campaigned against tax increases and increased spending on housing. She also laid off city workers and fought budget deficits through budget cuts. Despite strong protests, she signed a decree that the discrimination of homosexuals prohibited in apartment rentals, employment contracts and services in restaurants.

Style flowers

On the other hand, their malapropism became legendary when rock stars visited the city: The Who became The How , Bruce Springsteen became Bruce Bedspring and the Grateful Dead became Dreadful Dead .

She gladly greeted the public speaking audience with the words: “As Henry VIII of England said to each of his wives: Do not be afraid. I won't hold you up long ”('As Henry the Eighth said to each of his wives,' she told audiences too many times, 'Don't worry. I won't keep you long').

At a photo session with a politician from Yugoslavia , she said: “Do you know that I have never been to Czechoslovakia ?” After he replied “Mayor, I am from Yugoslavia”, she said again: “I know that. But she The truth is, I've never been to Czechoslovakia ”.

Renunciation of candidacy 1993 and appreciation

In 1993 there was criticism of Masloff's political goals after various high-tech companies and with them thousands of jobs in industrial parks had been relocated to suburbs with lower taxes and long strikes by newspapers and transport companies broke out. Although Pittsburgh remained livable due to the low crime rate, affordable housing, good schools and a rich cultural scene, there was a fear of voter migration .

This led to the fact that she refused to run again in the mayoral election on November 2, 1993. In the primaries of the Democratic Party, Tom Murphy , then a member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania , clearly won 49,530 votes (71.9 percent) against the then president of the city council, Jack Wagner, who only won 19,338 votes (28.1 percent ) came. In the actual mayoral election on November 2, 1993, Tom Murphy finally received 57,172 votes (66.2 percent), who was able to prevail against four opposing candidates.

In a press release on the occasion of her death, the incumbent Mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto , praised Sophie Masloff as “a pioneer disguised by grace and humor” who “personified Pittsburgh, was kind and approachable, but who should never be underestimated”. Her marriage to Jack Masloff had a daughter.

Web links

• Sophie Masloff in the nndb (English)
• Sophie Masloff, Ex-Mayor of Pittsburgh, Dies at 96 . In: The New York Times, August 18, 2014