Frank Rizzo Jr. Supports Montco's Joe Gale, Compares Him To Trump

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale has found an ally in Frank Rizzo Jr., the son of the former mayor of Philadelphia. Rizzo issued a op-ed over the weekend declaring his support for Gale amid recent controversies and comparing the Montgomery County Commissioner to both his father and President Trump.

Gale drew national attention and widespread condemnation back in June when he called the Black Lives Matter movement "domestic terrorism" and a "hate group." Numerous Pennsylvania and Montgomery County leaders called for his removal from office. A motion was introduced in the state legislature by Montgomery County Democrat, Rep. Joe Webster, to impeach him. Gale is the lone Republican on the three-person board of county commissioners.

For Rizzo Jr., the response to Gale's comments evokes the similar firestorm over the legacies of both his late father and Christopher Columbus, long-ongoing dramas which were reignited during the protests over the killing of George Floyd this summer.

"And in my search for people like my father, I have found only one person other than President Donald Trump who has the courage and toughness to speak the truth, defend history, uphold traditional values and demand law and order," Rizzo Jr. wrote. "That man is Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale."

The statue of the elder Rizzo, who served as Philadelphia's mayor from 1972 to 1980, was vandalized during the protests. It was removed from its location adjacent to Philadelphia's City Hall in early June, as Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said it represented "bigotry, hatred and oppression for too many people, for too long."

Critics of Rizzo call him a notorious racist who discriminated against minorities during his tenure, and the removal of his statue over the summer was seen celebrated by protesters. The area where the statue once stood now includes a Black Lives Matter mural that honors the protests.

The movement was not successful in simultaneous attempts to remove the Christopher Columbus statue at Marconi Plaza in south Philadelphia, a controversy which lasted for weeks and which pitted police, protesters, and counter-protesters in sometimes violent confrontations.

Rizzo Jr. echoed Gale's language on the protests, saying Kenney "appeased this lawless and violent mob by removing my dad’s bronze sculpture in the cover of darkness."

"When Philadelphia was under attack, Commissioner Gale had the leadership skills to talk openly and honestly about those who torched police cars, destroyed private property and terrorized innocent families," Rizzo Jr. added.

Rizzo Jr. went on to say that Gale had been victimized by the left, with his home surrounded by protesters on three different occasions.

"My family and I are proud of Joe Gale and we encourage the people of Philadelphia and its suburbs to follow and support Joe in his role as Montgomery County Commissioner and whatever lies ahead for him in the future. I have no doubt my father would also be proud as he looks down upon us from Heaven."

Activists and Democratic leaders, meanwhile, have taken Gale's words to be explicit racism.

"Montgomery County has been known my entire life for being a racist county," Marlena Green, a Norristown native and one of the founders of the group, said in a speech denouncing Gale back in June.Green, who said she is a Republican, specifically took issue with the language Gale used to make his point, such as the phrase "urban domestic terror."

"When I broke (Gale's) statement down, what that statement meant to me, was that the black community was a domestic terror group," she said.

Democratic leaders and local activists have worked to move forward two resolutions which would impeach Gale: House Resolution 920 and Senate Resolution 334. Neither of the resolutions have yet been put on the floor to start proceedings.