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Perzel's fall from political spotlight to shadows

HARRISBURG - At 59, John Michael Perzel has lived a life of contradictions. He was a brilliant political strategist who had to repeat the 10th grade. He was among the state's most prolific fund-raisers but uncomfortable in crowds.

State Rep. John M. Perzel's office at 7518 Frankford Ave. in the Northeast. "I have never used public funds for my personal or political gain," said the former House speaker, who has represented the 172d District for 30 years.
State Rep. John M. Perzel's office at 7518 Frankford Ave. in the Northeast. "I have never used public funds for my personal or political gain," said the former House speaker, who has represented the 172d District for 30 years.Read moreSARAH J. GLOVER / Staff Photographer

HARRISBURG - At 59, John Michael Perzel has lived a life of contradictions.

He was a brilliant political strategist who had to repeat the 10th grade. He was among the state's most prolific fund-raisers but uncomfortable in crowds.

He went from being one of the most recognizable state politicians - the speaker of the House with aspirations for the governor's mansion - to little-heard-from back bencher two years ago.

Now Perzel, who serves on the board of one of the nation's leading private-prison companies, begins a fight to stay out of jail.

State prosecutors yesterday charged him with 82 criminal counts in a scandal involving multimillion-dollar software programs paid for by taxpayers but allegedly used for political campaigning.

Perzel's road to political prominence started in 1978 when the former dishwasher and maitre d', the son of a waitress and a Linotype operator, captured a seat in the state House representing a blue-collar neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia.

He steadily rose through the GOP House ranks to become majority leader in 1994 and speaker in 2003. For a dozen years, he had a hand in every critical piece of legislation coming out of the Capitol.

During his heyday, Perzel was an in-your-face, bare-knuckled street-fighter politician.

"He had a steely, Philly street-smart toughness about him," said G. Terry Madonna, a political analyst and pollster at Franklin and Marshall College. "He was a wheeler and dealer of preeminent magnitude."

A longtime Democratic foe, State Rep. Bill DeWeese, another former House speaker, once called Perzel "a political pugilist."

How pugnacious?

Look no further than an episode that is part of Philadelphia political lore.

In 2001, Perzel decided on a bold gambit for the state to take over the Philadelphia Parking Authority in a Republican power grab. The move came after a meeting in which then-Mayor John F. Street paid more attention to his BlackBerry than to the House majority leader. What Street did, in Perzel's mind, was show a lack of respect.

Two years later, Perzel became speaker after the death of his longtime mentor, Matthew Ryan (R., Delaware).

When Perzel took the gavel, he promised to be a bipartisan head of the lower chamber. And to the chagrin of his party, he lived up to that in many respects, allowing major pieces of Gov. Rendell's agenda to become law.

At the height of his power, Perzel jockeyed for the title of Philadelphia's most influential state legislator with then-Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, a Democrat.

Throughout his career, Perzel has funneled millions in state projects to his 172d District in the Northeast and continues to live in a modest home on Brous Avenue.

A community center in Mayfair and a building on the campus of Holy Family University in Torresdale are named after Perzel.

Perzel and his wife, the former Sheryl Stokes, were an item in high school, broke up, and went on to have failed marriages before reuniting. She had two children from a previous marriage, and together they have two sons. All are grown.

His wife is battling multiple sclerosis.

In the public's eye, Perzel's stock began plunging after the debacle that was the 2005 legislative pay raise.

Perzel helped orchestrate the pay grab and for months was unapologetic even in the face of fervent public backlash.

Then the political gaffes started coming. In trying to defend the raises, he said that tattoo artists in Philadelphia made more than legislators, and that even immigrant cow milkers in Lancaster County made between $50,000 and $55,000. Reporters were unable to find any who did.

In January 2007, after Democrats seized a one-vote edge in the 203-member House, Perzel was removed as speaker and relegated to rank-and-file status for the first time in two decades.

His GOP colleagues created for him the post of speaker emeritus, but that ceremonial label has since been dropped.

Since that point, Perzel has remained far from the political spotlight, rarely seen outside his district, rarely making headlines.

Until yesterday's news.