John P. Cassidy was a newspaperman and public relations practitioner who became a Los Angeles City Council member in District 12 between 1962 and 1967. Before and after his term he was a field deputy to two City Council members, and in 1967 he was briefly the head of public relations for the city's Recreation and Parks Department.
Cassidy had been Callicott's personal choice as a successor.... Callicott, who died last month, asked Cassidy to move from West Los Angeles into the 12th district two years ago. The late councilman was in poor health and was understood to be grooming Cassidy for the $12,000-a-year job.
Cassidy faced the downtown voters in April 1963 and was elected to a four-year term. In the meantime, though, a move was afoot to shift the 12th District City Council seat into the San Fernando Valley, which had experienced steady population growth over the years, and in July 1964 the councilman agreed to the arrangement and said he would relocate into his new district area. The new Valley district included Granada Hills, Northridge, Chatsworth, Panorama City and the northern half of Canoga Park. It had a population of about 190,000. In 1967 he ran for reelection in his new area but was ousted in the final balloting by Robert M. Wilkinson, who garnered a vote of 24,312 to Cassidy's 7,127. It was "a bitter campaign marked by frequent exchanges of 'smear' charges."
Positions
Cassidy generally supported the policies of Mayor Sam Yorty.
Basing his opposition on a postcard survey of 600 property owners, in 1963 he urged the abandonment of a $250 million controversial urban renewal project of 182 acres in his downtown district, which would establish a complex of high-rise office buildings, apartments and businesses. The "blighted area" was bounded by the Hollywood and Harbor freeways, First Street and Glendale Boulevard.
He introduced a successful resolution in 1966 honoring Police Chief William H. Parker; it stated that Parker had done "everything in his power to establish a pattern of realistic human relations in all aspects of community life." The resolution was opposed by all three Negro members of the City Council—Tom Bradley, Billy G. Mills and Gilbert W. Lindsay—and favored by the twelve white members. Cassidy said Parker had made "substantial contributions to community life."
In 1966 he was an advocate of adding fluorides to Los Angeles drinking water to bring all parts of the city up to medical standards.
Cassidy and nine other council members voted in favor of a resolution commending Police Chief Tom Reddin and his department for their actions in controlling a crowd of ten thousand anti-Vietnam War protesters at the Century Plaza Hotel in June 1967; there were 45 arrests and injuries to 40 marchers and four policemen. Four council members were opposed.
Post-council
On July 1, 1967, a day after Cassidy left his City Council post, General Manager William Frederickson Jr. of the city's Recreation and Parks Department made an "emergency" appointment of Cassidy to a new post of the departmental public relations director at a salary of $17,988—which was $988 more than Cassidy was earning as a councilman. The appointment was castigated by Councilman Robert M. Wilkinson, Cassidy's successful opponent in the 1967 election, who had to drop the matter when it was determined that the council had no authority over the appointment. In February 1968, though, it was announced that Cassidy had scored ninth in the civil service examination for the position and would have to give it up because the rules required the post be given to one of the top three candidates. He was quickly offered a job as field deputy for 15th District Councilman John S. Gibson, Jr. In November 1968 Cassidy was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury investigating a contract to design a $4 million golf complex in the San Fernando Valley, but he refused to testify on the grounds of possible self-incrimination. The hearing led to the indictment of City Councilman Thomas D. Shepard, who was convicted of receiving a bribe and served time in prison. Cassidy took a month's leave from his position as Gibson's deputy, saying he did not want to "embarrass you or your office." There is nothing in the public record about Cassidy subsequent to this.
