district state_senate predecessor successor term_end state_house birth_date term_start article_title state name
4th 199th pennsylvania joseph smith john hamilton allyson schwartz john broujos november 30 , 1990 november 30 , 1980 pennsylvania 6 june 1947 1981 january 2 , 1979 joe rocks
 pennsylvania m. joseph rocks
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 .
upon leaving politics rocks turned his career towards the mental health field .
