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- [Announcer 1] Chronicles was made possible thanks to a community assets gra provided by the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority Springhill Senior Living, support by the Department of Edu and the generous support of Thomas B. Hagen.

(theme music) - [Announcer 2] This is W-Q-L-N. (file drawer opening) (film threading through spool) (film projector clicking) (button push click) (machine whirring) - [Narrator] In 1965, the Sixth Ward's own Mike Cannavino beat the Fifth Ward's Lou Tullio to win a Democratic primary.

And the winner was to be Erie's first Italian Mayor.

Those who know, know...

But for the rest of you wondering how Lou Tullio came to be the face of the city for the next quarter century, this is how it went down.

(machine whirring) (big band music begins) (big band music continues) In the '50s and '60s, everyone wanted a piece of what the country was selling.

From the tired to the poor, the huddled masses came in drove in search of that better tomorro - What you have is an America that is extraordinarily confident out of World War II, out of the Great Depression.

This is the most powerful, most affluent nation in the history of the world.

And there is this profound sense that most every problem that America has can be can be m And Americans of all stripes and are expressing confidence that if there is a challenge, a combination of private and public sector efforts can meet and surmount those chal - [Narrator] Erie was living up to its billing as the Gem City, but there was a as people got siloed from neighborhood to neighborhood, and even at times block-to-block - You look at the six Wards in t and who those leaders were from those Wards, how you could carry votes for different politicians and different elections, just by the close, intimate neighborhoods that they had.

And then you get into the Fifth which sort of attracted people from all over the city to have ultimately move there in the more affluent Fourth Ward that there was definitely a different type of feeling in each of those Wards.

- In the city of Erie, you have these different ethnic White ethnics are generally going to be Democrats, especially after Franklin/Roosev but they're gonna be vying with one another for power.

They're gonna bring with them (chuckling) the old world loyalties.

And these are the ties that bind - Ethnic politics was everything because we had a club system.

It was the life blood.

You won and lost elections in th And if you looked at city counci you had the Polish seats and the German seat.

And once in a while you got the Irish seat.

But the really clannish, the real organizations, it was the West side, Little Ita Little Italy was a community that maintained its integrity way beyond the others.

And if you didn't understand tha you weren't gonna be successful in politics.

- Oh, I grew up in Little Italy, which was the most fantastic nei in the whole city of Erie.

It was like a city in a city.

We had our own theaters, we had our own undertaker, we had our own bakeries, we had our own newspaper, we had everything.

It was really a fascinating place to grow up.

And there was alotta prejudice against the town.

I even felt it in my day, going to high school, I felt it.

And it took a long time before the Italians were recognized by the WASP population in the ar 'cause most of 'em were not educ most of 'em were illiterate.

Mussolini changed a lot of that Mussolini did anything good.

He made education a compulsory t not all the way through high sch but he did make it compulsory for the peasants in Italy.

Italian was not allowed above 19th Street in the tracks.

So they had to get the most meni the immigrants that came over he We weren't, in the housing, you couldn't go there if you wer or Greek from South Europe; you couldn't do that.

- 60 years ago, there was an enormous amount of prejudice from White Anglo-Saxon Protestan what we called, "Old Stock Ameri against white ethnics.

And so, Italian Americans, amongst many white ethnics, were amongst the most kind of di - So upper mobility, they tried to get jobs with City like the Irish do with the police and the fire.

These were patronage jobs, and they looked for politicians that would reward 'em that way.

- So that really was the backbone of it is that the way politics worked back the and the way governments worked b the way that you got ahead is having access to those jobs that you could give out to your supporters, that would turn out people to vo the next time you were up for re That was standard practice and not illegal, whatsoever.

I don't think the Italians in the Sixth Ward really knew how to capitalize on their political power until they had one of their own, in Mike Cannavino, start to carry the banner for th (gentle music begins) [Narrator] Mike was born on November 11th, 1907, in Scottsdale, P-A.

In two years, his family would move to Erie's Sixth Ward, where Mike would attend Columbus Grade School.

- Mike Cannavino was a plain sim a little guy, grew up in the nei Had a accident when he went to Westmore show and lost his leg, so he had one And the only way he could get ah and he was very, very personable was to get into politics.

- Mike Cannavino was my uncle.

When he would come to the house, which he did quite often, because my wife was a very good and he liked to eat.

But the kids, three kids, loved because he just entertained them And that's all they would talk a "When his Uncle Mike coming back - I can remember one time though... (chuckling) I have to laugh, I'm sorry.

Sitting in a restaurant, he took a knife and he went, boom, and it right in his leg.

People got so upset.

What was he doing?

It went in his wooden leg.

(laughing) He put it in his wooden leg.

Ahh People went, "Ah!"

It was going in his wooden leg.

- He was a kind of a showman.

He was very down to earth.

His forte was taking care of the little people and really doing whatever he cou to help the little people.

He served in county government, and he served on the school boar he served at city government.

He was also a maverick and that irritated people.

And he found himself in the minority quite often on city council because he was willing to be the opposition, the loyal opposition, if you wil - I mean, he cared for people.

He was poor.

He didn't come from money.

He came from the ground.

He never forgot where he came fr He was created by his birth, by his experience as a child, by the humble beginnings of his And he had that common touch.

That meant everything.

He fed of - [Narrator] The Year was 1961, it was an election year for Erie The incumbent, Democrat, Arthur had mulled vacating the seat that Cannavino and others had co However, in the end, Gardner decided to pursue reelec unwittingly creating a problem f amongst his own party.

To say Mike was upset would be putting it mildly.

After losing the primary, Mike went against the grain and immediately took to cooperat with the Republican candidate, Charles Williamson, behind the scenes.

Mike would spend the remainder of his career growing his own support to lead Erie to a brighter future.

- Art Gardner and Charles Willia they both tried to be non-political in many ways.

Well that meant offending many p who didn't care about the public If their son needed a job, if their daughter needed somethi if we needed a pothole fixed out we wanted somebody there right away to do that.

Speaking of Gardner, he really, to his credit, strong enough in his skin to say "I can either fight these guys and serve in the way that I think is best for the Cit or I can bow into 'em and have to put up with all that trouble that may come a And he clearly made the choice, and he said out loud, "I chose to fight 'em," and it cost him in that election Because Williamson really wins, quite comfortably, for a Republican in a town that about a 19,000 voter registratio edge to the Democrats.

- When Gardner runs against Will Cannavino bolts the party, but he doesn't put his fingerprints on the body.

Nobody knows this, but he has his right hand men, who are City Hall employees, supporting Williamson.

And it was a tough race, but Gardner loses and with him goes that part of the party, which was in charge.

(music fades) - If you have a very unified plurality, right, within a particular party, that unified minority, if they stick together, can impose their will upon a divided majority.

And this is what we see in the Eerie Democratic Party in the early '60s.

- Obviously, Cannavino's calculus was in four years.

He'll be a weakened mayor running for reelection, "And I can use all the resources that I have to come in and pick up the victory in 1965."

- Cannavino like look is, I'm sure he's like, "Oh yeah, elect a Republican, I'll win next time."

I mean, like that, politicians do that; they're careerists.

And is that shortsighted for the Yeah, but he's not the first pol to put himself above the betterment of the community.

- [Narrator] One of eight childr Louis J. Tullio, (gentle jazz music begins) was a real Erie guy from the sta Outside of his time at the famed Holy Cross and a small stint running a dairy farm in New England, Erie was Lou's home and its connections were all too familiar to him.

- Well, and Lou was a guy...

He grew up and lived in the Fift so he's not associated with the Sixth Ward.

A lot of Italians resented Lou living on the East Side and being sort of an uppity East but he was an educated man.

He eventually graduates from Cathedral Prep, goes to Holy Cross, has a distinguished career as a College Administrator and a Business Manager for the City of Erie.

- Yeah, Lou is a gregarious kind of a person and very much a people person.

He rose to become the Secretary Business Manager of the Erie School District, which was the most powerful job at that time.

And the Secretary Business Manager did all the hiring.

But as a person who did all the you could create your own power through a patronage system, and that's what Lou Tullio had d - Julio was an ally of Gardener' and he was a smart politician, T But Tullio's a neophyte.

He's ne - He feels that, "With my experience in education, and as the business manager and my business experience, that's the type of leader this city's calling out for, and I'm that person.

So I want to get out there early and let people know I'm running and maybe I can somehow convince that he doesn't have the juice to win this time."

So literally, within a week after the '64 general election, Lou announces that he's running.

- A primary campaign, especially in the Democratic Party, right, especially that time, it could easily devolve into a family fight.

And generally, Democratic Party, there are family fights and there are family civil wars.

And so, a primary in, you know, a city like Erie, amongst white ethnic Democrats, could easily spill into an ugly civil war that's gonna divide th - Lou Tullio's sister married a Cannavino, okay?

He was from the Third Ward, litt She was from 26th and East Avenu That gave them a brother and sister-in-law there with the Tullio family and the Cannavino family, which was very interesting in that race we're gonna talk ab - Louis J. Tullio was my uncle.

Well, it was a traumatic situati because my mother's brother and my father's brother, both uncles running and I really, I loved both families.

In fact, I was a Tullio for six years (chuckling) and then I became a Cannavino when I lived with my grandmother for six years.

That was a tough move.

And moving from the East side to the West side was a whole different ball game that became a little bit of a pr Yeah, and especially with the Cannavino/Tullio situation for me, two uncles running for m it's was a little bit unusual.

(machine whirring) - [Narrator] It didn't take long for things to go a certain way.

Civility quickly took a hike in the primary of 1965, as Mike and Lou exchanged shots like a Bizzarro boxing match.

- There was one advertisement that the Tullio campaign put out "We need a Democrat elected that that has good physical appearanc that has a good lady by his side and has good business experience Well, all four of those things t what would be the obvious weaknesses of Mike Cannavino, if you were a detractor of his.

He was a lifelong bachelor.

He couldn't be trusted because he always played footsie with the Republicans when it came time to it, if he didn't get what he wanted.

He, admittedly, was not a good b with his ventures that he went i And so, that was about as bald-faced as you could get.

- It was to be Mike's time, and the Cannavino people were so ups that they actually had buttons that they wore, that I believe that said, "O-T-L, One Term Lou," that he was not going to win aga That's how upset they were.

And there were these huge buttons that they wore.

I mean, it wasn't a little one.

It was these huge buttons that were printed up that they, hundreds, maybe thousands of peo - There was a saying, "The total loss from Holy Cross."

"The total loss from Holy Cross, and they would say it during the - Everybody asked me like, "Who are you gonna vote for?"

I said, "I'm gonna vote for my u And I did.

(chuckling) (gentle music begins) - [Narrator] In the midst of eve the muscle that everyone associated with Mike, his heart, started to show signs of wear an - Cannavino announces in February that he's gonna run.

And within a month, he has a hea and he's in the hospital for a g And it's first reported, maybe he just had a viral infection or maybe just a light heart attack, a small heart attack, that's not gonna keep him off the campaign trail too long.

But he knew and his family knew that this was a pretty serious episode that he's just had.

- I mean, this is how much he wanted to be mayor.

(laughing) He literally sacrificed his health in order to win.

It's really interesting.

(gentle blues music begins) Men of that era did not take care of themselves.

It didn't help him run as vigorous of a campaign as he but maybe it's just like, the sympathy vote; that's real.

- People felt part of him.

And to this day, you talk about Mike Cannavino, it's in your heart, in your hear I can't really say that about any other political leader in th I've known 'em all.

But Mike Cannavino was someone that people revere.

(film reel whirring) - [Narrator] May 18th, 1965, after a grueling few months of campaigning, Mike Cannavino won the Democrati for the Mayoral General Election in the fall.

The city meant it when they said, "I like Mike."

- Yeah, but I think it was about or something like that.

But he won I think five of the Sixth Wards, some of them quite handling.

He would just, he had a machine, a true machine that could turn out the vote when he needed it, and he was able to get across the finish line.

And Lou, as oftentimes, people their first time in, oftentimes they don't win.

They give a real good effort, but people just aren't familiar enough with them.

And there's enough loyalty to the person who has run before that that probably was the difference in the end.

- Mike Cannavino won that race because people rallied to him.

When you have loyalty for a pers when you have skin in the game with a person, when someone's touched your hear when someone has given you that enhancement or that feeling, when someone can go in a room and make you feel like you're just as important as a someone who over here that has a million dollars in th that person you're gonna go to the grave for.

(film reel whirring) - [Narrator] Mike had never been closer to his dream.

All that stood in his way was a weakened candidate in the incumbent, Charles Willia The odds were in Mike's favor.

- Okay, so now you got Cannavino Labor day has come and now his campaign is starting to ramp up, and he, as he has done his whole is making social calls on social clubs and bars.

And that really is where his cam is centered.

- We had rallies every night in those days.

There was clubs in every neighbo and every nationality had a club in those days, like I told you, the Portuguese We went to the Portuguese Club.

We went to the Romanian Club.

Did you ever hear of it?

Huh?

That's where Bishop Brock i He bought that building there.

That was the Romanian Club.

We went down in the basement.

We had a rally at the Romanian C I never even heard of these plac Mike always made sure he had a small place to hold a rally.

So he would say, "I have 2000 pe And they say, "But Mike, you can't get 2000 people in here."

He said, "They were coming and g They weren't all at the same tim They were coming and going."

He was something else.

(chuckling) There was just something about h - Williamson and Cannavino, they don't make a ton of appearances together.

They have one debate, which the typical byplay of a debate occurs.

Cannavino has campaigned as hard as you would expect him to.

His health is starting to fail h And many people felt that you could just tell, the campaign was really taking a toll on him.

And if he made it through the el how long would he last after the So there was a real concern about his health, but there was no open talk that he should drop out of the r 'cause he was just so close to i - It was a huge rally at the I C The I Club was on 26th, and I dunno what street, Plumb?

Or Poplar?

One of them streets, the I Club.

The building I think is still th Schillings Carpet used to be the Remember Schillings Carpet?

Right next door was the I Club, a little place, not big.

We had to go up the second floor And as I said, he always had a small place.

Mike gave a speech that night, maybe 25 minutes or so, it held the crowd.

It was standing room only in that little place there, standing room only.

And you could tell that he was all gray, all right?

But he had looked that way for w So he came down the stairs and you couldn't even move.

The crowd was out front waiting for him, movie.

And Jack Fatica takes him home.

And the next day, Mike dies.

(melancholy music begins) All right?

But he really memorized the crow He was really something.

I think of those days... Really - I frequent the Y, I was a handball player.

And I was at the Y when I got wo that he had passed on.

And the Y was right across the s from the Lawrence Hotel.

It was traumatic.

I mean, it was I believe they even had an extra a special paper.

And my dad, I immediately went t and he just, he was really, really shook up.

- [Narrator] At the Young age of Mike died 10 days before what wa the coronation of his lifelong p With no wife and kids, Mike still somehow managed to leave behind a legacy that goes further than some picture hanging on the wall.

With the election so close, the city Democrats were left reeling for solutions.

But now, (horse race bugle call) there was one question that came to the forefront.

Where was Lou Tullio?

- Lou's top aide, Pat Liebel, is downtown shopping.

She sees Mike being wheeled out of the Lawrence Hotel on a stretcher.

Joe Robie, who was one of Lou's neither one of 'em know where Lou is, specifically.

They just know that he's at conf in the Philadelphia area.

- They needed to find him.

And there was no smartphones or no cell phones, or you can't just push a button and find the person.

And they finally tracked him dow My understanding was he was, I t in New Jersey at a racetrack.

And he was playing the ponies, which he was known to do.

- Back then, horse racing was more taboo than you could imagine.

It was just not a place that you'd want known where you were at.

- When they found him and said, "Hey, you're the candidate.

You're going to be, you're going to be running now."

- Very next day, he was mending Very next day, he's meeting with the DeFazios.

He's meeting with Cannavino peop He's meeting with anybody that will listen to him.

Didn't win 'em all over.

Cannavino people never forgot, but Mayor Tullio, to his credit, did the right thi - [Narrator] With a touch of cla not evident in the modern arena of politics, Williamson suspended his campaig as a gesture of respect towards and provided the city with the space to mourn.

- When Tullio gets nominated, the campaign is suspended on all for just a few days anyway, until Mike is buried at Calvary But in the end, it was a relatively comfortable victory for Lou, about 2,700 votes.

Or you could say that that really wasn't much of a victory at all, because the Democrats that were elected before him all won by an average of about 4,400 votes.

So there was still something there that, you know, people were not totally in love with Lou Tullio, but as history would show us, he became a political force in t that we probably have not seen s and probably will never see agai - He's a model of a modern, progressive mayor who works in partnership with the federal government to bring all kinds of programs and goodies home.

I mean, this is...

He is both, you know, an old wor but also an effective, technocra politician who is extremely savvy to the ways of Washington.

And Tullio is, I mean, he's rightly revered.

- Losing that election to Mike C defined what Lou Tullio became.

He never forgot anybody.

He didn't forget that something was happening in your life.

He never forgot that.

And so he learned, he didn't learn that in the school board.

He didn't learn that coming from the Erie School Board.

He didn't learn any of that.

What Mike Cannavino learned, he but he learned it from losing to I firmly believe that.

- Mike legacy?

I think he would've been a good mayor, 'cause he was a people person and he knew his limitations.

He would've surrounded himself with people that knew what they were doing.

A person that got things done didn't care about waiting for red tape.

He just went and did it.

- As far as Uncle Mike's legacy, people mentioned to me because of the name.

And they ask, "Were you any relation to Mike Cannavino?"

And I'm proud to say, "Yes."

- [Narrator] The following two d would be marked as, "The Tullio but for the Cannavino people, the little guys, there was always the question fo "What could have or should have (film projector clacking) (big band music begins) ♪ Hello Michael ♪ Let's all roll with Michael ♪ Michael is the man that Erie's waiting for ♪ ♪ He served us well that's Micha ♪ The working man's power is Mic ♪ Erie's on the move and Mike has proved he'll lead the way ♪ ♪ Who's got the know?

It's Micha ♪ And we'll roll with Michael ♪ Cannavino is the man for you a ♪ So cast your vote fella ♪ Don't you dare miss the boat f ♪ I like Mike the man for our ne ♪ Hello Michael (music fading) ♪ Let's all roll with Michael ♪ Michael is the man that Erie's waiting for ♪ - [Announcer 1] Chronicles was made possible thanks to a community assets gra provided by the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, Springhill Senior Living, support by the Department of Edu and the generous support of Thomas B. Hagan.

- [Announcer 2] We question and learn.

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