Retiring Radnor politician left a lasting mark

Fans and foes of Bill Spingler agree on at least one thing.

"He was able to get things done," said Delaware County Democratic Chairman David Landau, an admirer of the longtime county Democratic political figure.

"When he wanted to get something done, he got it done," said Sara Pilling, a recently acquired adversary.

She fought Spingler, then president of the Radnor Township Board of Commissioners, on a plan approved last week for new dormitories for Villanova University, Spingler's alma mater.

Spingler, 73, wouldn't disagree with either of them.

"When I decide something, I get it done, like people tell you," he said.

After 46 years in local and county politics, Spingler retired Monday from the township board. His career began in 1968 when he was a delegate to the raucous Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and ended after the vote to approve the Villanova expansion, the latest contentious battle that went his way. Like many of his victories, approval passed the board with four yes votes - the bare majority.

"I only need four votes to get what I want done," Spingler said, describing his approach to politics.

He's moving to Paoli, to a home he owns with his fiancee, Barbara Paolizzi, 74. The two intend to marry this year. Spingler is twice a widower. Paolizzi had a 40-year marriage end in a divorce she said she never saw coming and a second, brief marriage she described as ill-advised.

She is quiet, but often flashes a gentle smile of bemusement with her politician partner. They met on the dating site Match.com, and she was struck by his generosity, she said. Spingler lives with the 101-year-old mother of his first wife.

"It just impressed me that a son-in-law that would take care of his mother-in-law, and have her live there and take care of her," Paolizzi said. "There's a lot of sons that won't take care of their own mothers."

Tall, bald-pated, and stout, Spingler exudes energy that belies his years, grinning while recounting with extraordinary precision ballot tallies of races he won decades ago.

Among his yarns, he tells how a gunman helped him win his seat as a Delaware County commissioner in 1971. He ran as a Democrat willing to battle Republicans in an era when Delaware County was solid red. He was not given much of a chance, he said, until an armed man entered the Philadelphia Acme Market he managed.

"The guy came in with a gun and held me up," he said. "Stole the money. I'm on the front page of the Delaware County paper. I won the election."

Spingler is a rarity, a Democrat who survived and thrived in a Republican-dominated county.

"It's perfect that he is going out as the president of the board, because he's done so much for the township," said George Badey, chairman of the Radnor Democratic Party.

He became Radnor's first Democratic commissioner in 1969, and was the last member of his party to serve as a county commissioner. The County Council replaced the Board of Commissioners in 1976.

Along the way, he has left a lasting mark in Radnor, from a bike trail converted from an old railroad bed to tree- and sidewalk-lined streets to acres of protected open space.

"People don't understand the concept of open space," he said. "You don't have to put a ball field there. You can just leave it as trees and birds and deer."

He's an old-fashioned politician, friends said, dropping off bags of vegetables for constituents and encouraging absentee-ballot registration.

"He hasn't changed a lot," said Jim Landis, who owns Landis Restaurant on Lancaster Avenue. "Except his ego might have got a little bit bigger," he added with a laugh.

His opponents acknowledge Spingler's accomplishments, but disapprove of how he gets things done.

"My concern with Bill Spingler is his ethical conduct," said Richard Booker, another commissioner.

Spingler isn't transparent in how he conducts business, Booker said, and questions about his work as an usher at Villanova basketball games led to accusations of ethics violations, although they never came to anything.

Pilling, who has lived in Radnor for 33 years, says Spingler bullies to get what he wants.

"I hate power for power's sake," she said. "He's rude, to go along with it."

Spingler admits to persistence, and will horse-trade and wheedle to get votes for pet projects, but said he never benefited personally from public service.

"I just concluded, in my association with him, he just really believed in what he was doing and did it," said Charles Lillicrapp, a friend who worked on Spingler's unsuccessful bids for Congress and township treasurer.

Retirement from the Radnor board isn't going to mean a farewell to politics, Spingler said. He and Paolizzi plan to visit every state in the country, and he suggested the first stop might be Iowa or New Hampshire to help Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign.

Looking back on decades of long fights to get what he felt Radnor needed, Spingler briefly contemplated his legacy.

"I'll be telling my great-grandchildren: See that building right there, see that park on Lancaster Pike," he said. "There are a lot of things I can talk about."