Slide-Rule Caesar

As he made the rounds of Jersey City's sprawling Medical Center last week, Mayor Thomas J. Whelan cheerily shook hands with employees and urged them to give him a call "if there's anything I can do for you." That was a pretty tall offer, considering that 1,172 of them--two-thirds of the hospital's entire staff--were to be fired by Mayor Whelan this week.

Since economy-minded Tom Whelan, 43, took over Democratic Boss Frank Hague's old fiefdom in 1963, he has discharged a total of 1,777 municipal employees for a saving of $10.5 million, more than one-fourth of the city payroll. "If there is a toe in town I haven't stepped on," says he, "it's because I haven't found it yet."

Novice to Nemesis. Whelan, one of 13 children of a Hague wardheeler who held a patronage job as a court bailiff, flew 63 combat missions as a pilot in World War II, later became chief security officer of New Jersey Bell Telephone Co. In 1960 he took a company course in politics, won a seat on the Jersey City city council. Two years ago, when it was discovered that Italian-born Mayor Thomas Gangemi had never become a U.S. citizen, fellow councilmen elected Whelan to fill out Gangemi's term--chiefly because they figured that Whelan would be easy to dump when new elections rolled around.

Instead, the novice turned nemesis. One of Whelan's first acts was to fire 503 city employees, including his own staff photographer, for a saving of $1,900,857. Next he bounced 102 city-paid schoolboard clerks, who drew $400,000 a year. "City jobs here were just plain patronage plums in about 80% of the cases," argues Whelan. "A man doesn't carry that much fat around and live." With the savings the mayor decreed a pay raise for policemen and firemen that had been turned down by the voters only two weeks before he took office. Whelan's blunt explanation: "Morale is shot."

Clocks & Crusades. For those who kept their jobs, the mayor lengthened the city hall workday from seven to eight hours, made them start punching time clocks. Says Whelan: "Most city employees used to regard their jobs as part-time affairs. If they worked a 20-hour week, they were liable to put in for overtime." Taking his department heads on a tour of Jersey City's scabrous 15A slums, Whelan protested: "See this? You haven't been doing your job. If you had, things wouldn't be this bad." Flailing the business community for civic apathy, he told a meeting of local merchants: "Your theme song should be O Say, Can You See What's In It for Me?"

When Jersey City Negroes rioted in 1964, Whelan roared: "Race riots, hell! This is just plain hoodlumism! Being poor is no excuse for taking the law into your own hands. Anyone touching a cop better be prepared to come off second best." The mayor bluntly rejected civil rights groups' demands for a police review board. "If there's going to be any civilian reviewing this stuff," said he, "it'll be me." Whelan was bombarded with congratulatory mail for his no-nonsense stand. Last May he was elected to a full four-year term, beating out six opponents with a 55% majority of Jersey City's voters.

Saving the Cities. Armed with a slide rule, which he keeps on his desk, Whelan constantly casts about for new economies. As a result of his pork paring, the Jersey City tax rate has been reduced by $2.84 per $1,000 of assessed valuation--luring back industry that had long since gone elsewhere.

Democrat Whelan is already being mentioned as a candidate to run against New Jersey's popular Republican U.S. Senator, Clifford Case, who comes up for re-election in 1966. Whelan has been realistic enough to win the support of Jersey City's present Democratic boss, John V. Kenny--even to the point of naming Kenny's son-in-law to a $20,000-a-year post as administrator of the city medical center. In a campaign against Case, Whelan's pitch would be his familiarity with the problems of New Jersey's cities. "The ills of our cities are the greatest internal problem America has today," says he. "The cities need a greater voice than they have now. The city has to be saved. If we fail, God doesn't know what will happen."

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