Joe Rocks

Who is Joe Rocks?

M. Joseph Rocks is a former Pennsylvania State Senator and Pennsylvania State Representative. He was a Philadelphia mayoral candidate and currently works in the mental health profession. During his time in the Pennsylvania State Senate, Rocks, a Republican, created the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority board 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. Rocks ran for Philadelphia City Controller in 1989, where he lost to Democrat Jonathan Saidel. Rocks also ran as a Republican for mayor in 1995, losing to 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, 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.