1981 Allentown mayoral election

The 1981 Allentown mayoral election was a municipal election to determine the mayor of Allentown, the third largest city in Pennsylvania. Incumbent first-term Republican mayor Frank Fischl would not seek re-election, with the Republicans instead running local businessman and former city councilmen Robert E. Smith Jr. against the Democratic former mayor Joseph S. Daddona.

1981 Allentown mayoral election

November 2, 1981 (1981-11-02)

Candidate Joseph S. Daddona Robert E. Smith Jr. Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 15,487 8,362 Percentage 64.94% 35.06%

Mayor before election Frank Fischl Republican Elected mayor Joseph S. Daddona Democratic

Campaign

Democratic Primary

The race gained media notoriety when local businessmen Dominic Falcone awarded $10,000 in his will for anyone who would run against former Mayor Joseph S. Daddona. Falcone died on May 12, 1981, at the age of 56, claimed to have illegally made a $1,500 donation to Daddona's failed 1969 effort for mayor. Although the allegation was disproved after the election, the scandal was one of the deciding factors in Daddona's loss by 121 votes. Falcone meanwhile was arrested in 1977 for soliciting a prostitute.

There where two Democratic front runners during the election, city Controller Louis J. Hershman, and former mayor Joseph S. Daddona.

Republicans

Incumbent first-term Republican mayor Frank Fischl made a rather surprising announcement that he would not be seeking re-election to a second term, opening the election up to a new slate of Republican candidates despite him being popular with the city's Republican voters who attempted to convince him to run. Fischl never gave an official reason for his refusal of re-election, however, The Morning Call speculated that it had to do with the difficulty of passing an amendment to the city's property tax to cover the operation cost of the city's ambulances. Fischl was adamantly against increasing the property tax and bitterly feuded with both the Republicans and Democrats on the city council and if he did run for re-election it was heavily implied that the local Republican committee would refuse to endorse him and run another candidate, forcing Fischl to run as a political independent. The Republicans did not have a primary, instead the Lehigh County Republican Committee formed an recruitment committee which interviewed candidates. The party chose Robert E. Smith Jr., a city councilmen and local business leader, as their candidate.

Smith worked as the chairman of Robert G. Smith Inc. for over 30 years, and worked as the chairman of the Allentown Sheraton at the time of his nomination. He also owned, operated and managed three restaurants throughout Allentown prior to working for Sheraton. Smith also ran against Daddona in the 1970s and served on Allentown City Council from 1976 to 1980 where he was treasurer from 1980 until 1983 and vice president of City Council from 1977 to 1979.

General election

Daddona was the heavy favorite to win the election, despite the leadership of outgoing mayor Fischl and the qualifications of Smith. Daddona won with 15,487 votes to Smith's 8,362. The election itself was largely uneventful, except for 621 votes from the polling place at the Union Terrace School were not properly recorded due to glitches in the electronic voting machines.

Results

Mayor of Allentown, Democratic primary, May 19, 1981.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph S. Daddona	2,308	60.10%
	Democratic	Louis J. Hershman	1,083	39.90%
Total votes			3,391	100.00%

Mayor of Allentown, general election, November 2, 1981.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph S. Daddona	15,487	64.94%
	Republican	Robert E. Smith Jr.	8,362	35.06%
Total votes			23,849	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

Legacy

One of the lingering issues from this campaign was the accusation of two Allentown police officers, Thomas Bennis and Roger MacLean, that Mayor Daddona demoted them due to their opposition to Daddona in 1981. The city, and Daddona, defended the demotions stating that they were to break up a clique of officers who harassed and intimidated other policemen in attempts to gain influence on the force. On June 6, 1983, Daddona and the city where found guilty, however, the defense argued that the prosecution and judge, Daniel Henry Huyett III made over 130 errors in the delivery of the verdict against the city, however, this did not change the opinion of the jury, who found that the city owned the pair $400,000. The issue remained contentious during Daddona's reelection effort in the 1985 Allentown mayoral election.

After his defeat Smith ran unsuccessfully for the 16th District of the Pennsylvania Senate against Democratic incumbent Roy Afflerbach in 1994. He would also service as the chairman, commissioner and treasurer of the Allentown Housing Authority from 1997 to 2002 as well as on the boards of several small state economic boards and offices and served as the manager for 6 different election campaigns and as a delegate to three Republican National Conventions before his death on December 12, 2002, at the age of 70.

This election successfully resurrected the career of Daddona, who would go on to win the 1985 and 1989 elections, serving as mayor for three consecutive, and four overall terms, tying the record for longest serving mayor with Malcolm W. Gross at 12 years. Daddona is fondly remembered by many of the city's residents, namely among the city's Democrats, with the city's post office being renamed in his memory after he died on June 5, 2004.

Concurrent to the mayoral election, there was also an election to the Allentown City Council which saw the Democrats beat the sole Republican incumbent, Guy Kratzer, creating a unanimously Democratic council, although two Republicans, Luther Robb and Peter Hance, would be temporally appointed to the council for less than a year in 1983 following vacancies. It would take until 1991 when another Republican, Lee Gaumer, would be elected to the council.