[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 55 (Wednesday, April 21, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H2260-H2261]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    A TRIBUTE TO MAYOR RALPH J. PERK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, tonight Cleveland, Ohio, is much poorer 
than it was yesterday because of the passing of Mayor Ralph J. Perk. If 
we were to ask residents of the city of Cleveland about et cetera 
city's recent history, they might point us to the bridge at State Route 
21 over the Cuyahoga River as the point where 25 years ago the Cuyahoga 
River caught on fire, or they might direct us to the factory where 
Mayor Perk, while attempting to show some blue collar voters that he

[[Page H2261]]

was proficient in the use of a blow torch, accidentally set his hair on 
fire.
  But Clevelanders love to tell the story about when Mayor Perk, a 
Republican, was invited to a State dinner by then President Richard 
Nixon, and it conflicted with his wife Lucy's bowling night, so he was 
not able to be in attendance on that particular evening.
  Mr. Speaker, Ralph Perk was vintage Cleveland, and he will be greatly 
missed. He is best known as Cleveland's mayor, but he had a 
distinguished career as a public servant. He began his political career 
in 1940 as a Republican precinct committeeman, and was appointed to the 
staff of the Ohio Attorney General's Office in 1950. He then went on to 
represent the Broadway East 55th Street area of Cleveland as a 
councilman from 1953 to 1962.
  He was then elected to county-wide office, and served as the county 
auditor for 9 years. When he was elected mayor, Mayor Perk had the 
distinction of being the first Republican mayor of Cleveland since the 
1930s. In fact, only two Republicans have served as the mayor of 
Cleveland in my lifetime, Ralph Perk and also our new Senator from 
Ohio, George Voinovich.
  God love Ralph Perk, Mr. Speaker. He was a Republican in the days 
when being a Republican was not very cool. His political base was found 
in Cleveland's heavily Democratic ethnic communities, which supported 
him regardless of party label. He won folks over with his heart and his 
ability to be just like everyone else, to connect with his fellow man 
without pretense.
  If another mayor had turned down a State dinner at the White House 
because of his wife's bowling engagement, it would have been a serious 
breach of etiquette. To Ralph Perk and the city of Cleveland, it is a 
badge of honor.
  Mayor Perk served as mayor from 1972 to 1977, at a time when the city 
was developing some financial difficulties, but Ralph Perk was able to 
work with the Federal Government and the Nixon White House to secure 
funding to alleviate a number of those difficulties.
  He is credited with establishing a regional sewer district, and he is 
also credited with paying off the bonds, using city funds to pay off 
the bonds of the financially strapped Cleveland Transit Authority to 
create what is now the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.
  Mr. Speaker, although it has been more than 20 years since Ralph Perk 
served as the mayor of our fair city, he has never been nor will he 
ever be forgotten. He was a true Cleveland original, a man who loved 
his hometown with all of his heart and served it with great spirit and 
dedication. He will be sorely missed.
  Mayor Perk was reelected as mayor in both 1973 and 1975. In 1977, 
there was a nonpartisan primary and he was defeated by two other 
individuals. One was a Member who served in this House, Ed Feighan, and 
the other is my very distinguished greater Clevelander, the gentleman 
from Ohio (Mr. Dennis Kucinich), who then went on to serve as mayor of 
Cleveland, and now serves with us in the House.
  I yield to my friend, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) for his 
thoughts and remembrances of Mayor Perk.
  Mr. KUCINICH. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) also 
for the opportunity to share in this very important reflection on a 
former mayor of the city of Cleveland, Mayor Ralph J. Perk.
  Ralph Perk leaves us at a time when the world could use the message 
of his life, which was to unite people across racial and ethnic lines. 
For generations he led us in celebrating the beautiful cultural mosaic 
that is our inheritance in greater Cleveland. He understood the beauty 
and the strength of each individual expressing his or her own 
uniqueness.
  I shared with Ralph many a platform, festooned with colorful flags, 
many an ethnic picnic, many polka-filled moments. He had a great 
enthusiasm for life. He was a wise and dedicated public servant who 
served Cleveland long and well as a city councilman, a county auditor, 
and mayor. His greatest strength was his common touch, his ability to 
stay close to the life of Cleveland's neighborhoods.
  Throughout his long life he never left the city he loved, and because 
of his dedication to Cleveland, his memory will never leave us. My 
deepest sympathies go out to his dear wife, Lucy, and to his children.
  I will miss Ralph, but I shall never be able to think of him without 
smiling about this engaging, energetic, passionate public man and dear 
friend.

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