With just months to go before leaving Philadelphia City Council, Frank Rizzo is no longer in a leadership position and he is no longer a registered Republican.
Rizzo confirmed on Thursday that he is now registered as unaffiliated. The longtime Republican only has three months left in his fourth and final city council term.
Losing the leadership title will reduce Rizzo’s pay by about $500 for the remainder of his term.
In early October, Rizzo was voted out of his position as Council Minority Whip, by Republican Councilmen Brian O’Neill and Jack Kelly. Rizzo said the move was retaliation for his vote on a new redistricting plan.
Rizzo told the Philadelphia Daily News that he got into trouble for “being independent.”
City Council’s vote to redraw new councilmanic boundaries was approved by a vote of 15 to 2, with O’Neil and Kelly opposing, in particular, a change that affects O’Neil’s district in the Far Northeast.
“I did not pick this fight,” Rizzo told The Daily News.
Rizzo -- son of the former Police Commissioner and Mayor -- was first elected in 1995. Last May he lost his bid to advance in the primary election, coming in seventh in a field of nine Republicans. The top five Republicans and five Democrats advanced to the November General Election.
Politics
Voters will choose seven at-large Council members and vote for 10 District Council seats on Nov. 8.
