(Willie) Wilson Goode

US mayor, born in Seaboard, North Carolina, USA. The son of a sharecropper, he earned a BA from Morgan State College and an MPA from the Wharton School. He worked as a probation officer, a building supervisor, and an insurance claims adjustor. He became the first African-American mayor of Philadelphia (1985–91). A meticulous, sober man, he was much criticized for allowing police to bomb the headquarters of MOVE, an armed radical group. During the last part of his tenure, the city suffered serious financial troubles.

Arriving in Philadelphia in 1954, Goode promptly plunged into the life of the city.

Philadelphia Portal

After African-American state senators complained that there had never been an African-American member of the Public Utilities Commission, Governor Milton J. His aide, Terry Dellmuth, knew Goode from his community and political activities, and recommended him. Shapp – in Goode's judgement perhaps mistaking him for someone else – nominated him and the Senate confirmed him despite a recent record of obstructing Shapp's PUC choices.

As a PUC Commissioner, Goode met with community groups around the state, studied the issues intensively, compiled a pro-consumer record, and forged good working relations with his fellow commissioners.

Dick Thornburgh's election as Governor of Pennsylvania in 1978 on the Republican ticket created a desire by Republicans to control the PUC.

Mayor of Philadelphia, and former United States Congressman, William J. Green (elected mayor in November, 1979) -- who had promised to appoint a black managing director after winning a racially divisive Democratic primary against former deputy mayor Charles Bowser -- kept his promise by appointing Goode Managing Director after members of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce actively joined key members of the black community and urged Green to appoint Goode. Seeking to unite the city of Philadelphia, Green went along with these recommendations and made Goode his managing director. Goode used this position to make himself extremely visible, attending community events around the clock.

Then during the next primary election Green decided not to seek re-election when his wife, Patricia, became pregnant with their youngest child.

When Green withdrew from the primary election for a 2nd term, Goode jumped into the race.

Goode continued his heavy public schedule as Mayor, probably spending more time at public events than any of his Democratic predecessors.

Goode's tenure as Mayor was marred by the MOVE controversy in which police bombed the MOVE compound in West Philadelphia and wound up burning an entire city block when the fire raged out of control.

While public opinion initially supported Goode, an investigation by a commission appointed by Goode held extensive public hearings in which Goode's judgement was held up to public scrutiny. The negative publicity engendered helped elect Republican Ron Castille as District Attorney in 1985, and encouraged former District Attorney and unsuccessful 1986 Democratic primary gubernatorial candidate Ed Rendell to oppose him for the Democratic mayoral nomination in 1987. Goode defeated Rendell for the Democratic nomination, and then defeated the Republican nominee, former Mayor Frank L. In both primary and general elections, Philadelphia's black voters stuck by Goode, although with less enthusiasm than he had aroused in 1983.

During the Green administration, the city budget had been balanced; the first few years of Goode's reign caused the city to go into debt again. Later, in an attempt to re-balance the city's budget, Goode pushed through tax increases raising the city's wage tax to an all-time high of 4.96%.

Goode was unable to maintain Philadelphia's black vote as a unified bloc. A well-funded and highly publicized attempt to purge Philadelphia City Councilman at Large David Cohen, a leading critic of Goode's trash to steam proposal, backfired as Cohen came in first in total votes in the 1987 Council at Large Democratic Primary for the five seats to be filled, and set an all-time record for most votes received for that position in a Democratic primary. (Eighteen years later, Goode would be the only former Mayor of Philadelphia attending Councilman Cohen's funeral. Wilson Goode, Jr., would eulogize Cohen at a special memorial service held in Philadelphia's City Council.)

In the 1991 Democratic Primary, three blacks – former Councilman Lucien E. Blackwell, a strong Goode loyalist; George Burrell, a Goode critic allied with Congressman William Gray; and James White, Goode's managing director – faced white candidates Ed Rendell and Peter Hearn, a former Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

Goode stayed active after leaving as Mayor, attending community meetings, hosting a radio show on WDAS, and holding mid-level positions in the U.S. Department of Education. Wilson Goode, Jr., was defeated for Councilman at Large in the 1991 Democratic Primary, but was appointed by Mayor Ed Rendell to a position in the city commerce department in 1992. The younger Goode was elected Councilman at Large in 1999, with the active support of Democratic mayoral nominee John F. Street, Chairman of the Council Appropriations Committee in the Goode Administration, and easily re-elected Councilman at Large in 2003.

The younger Goode received more votes in African American wards than any other councilman at large candidate, and was considered a possible 2007 Democratic mayoral candidate at the start of the the current Council term, but has since made clear his intention to run for re-election as Councilman-at-large in 2007.