Joe Rocks

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Joe Rocks is a former Pennsylvania State Senator and Philadelphia mayoral candidate, currently working in the mental health profession. Rocks made mental health issues a cornerstone of his platform as both a state senator and later a candidate for Mayor, and he was also known for fighting for greater oversight of fiscal spending. During his time in the Pennsylvania State Senate, Rocks, a Republican, created the PICA board^[1] to monitor all spending by then mayor Wilson Goode and the city council. All money spent by the city government had to be approved by the board. Mr. Rocks was widely praised for his work in this area, and it led him to run for Philadelphia City Controller in 1989, where he lost to Democrat Jonathan Saidel.^[2] Despite the unsuccessful campaign, the publicity from the election propelled him to the republican nomination for Mayor in 1995, where he was unable to unseat incumbent Ed Rendell.

Throughout his career in politics, Rocks was known as a fighter and an aggressive campaigner. His campaign against Allyson Schwartz in 1990, when he lost his State Senate seat, was particularly bitter^[3], with negative campaigning from both sides. Among the more wild accusations was the assertion from the Schwartz campaign that Rocks had an alcohol problem and engaged in promiscuous behavior. The comments had apparently been prepared as a joke by a staffer, released accidentally, and Schwartz apologized, but the campaign became increasingly acrimonious from that point forward.

Upon leaving politics Rocks turned his career towards the mental health field, where he has led a dramatic turnaround^[4] of one of Pennsylvania's larger mental health providers. He is remembered as a dedicated public servant, and praised for his current work helping the mentally disabled.