Broderick entered politics as a commissioner to Plymouth Township, Pennsylvania from 1952 to 1954. In 1966, after Walter Alessandroni was killed in a plane crash and posthumously won the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor, party leaders selected Broderick to replace Alessandroni on the ticket with Raymond P. Shafer.[2][3] The pair defeated the Democratic ticket of Milton Shapp and Leonard Staisey in the 1966 gubernatorial election. During his term, He served as a delegate to Pennsylvania's 1967 constitutional convention. In the 1970 gubernatorial election, Broderick ran to succeed Shafer against Shapp. This time Shapp won the governorship with 55% of the vote to Broderick's 41%. Broderick's campaign ran an ad in The Philadelphia Inquirer portraying Shapp as a leader of stone-throwing protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Shapp responded with ads challenging Broderick's credibility on the budget. Governor Shafer proposed a state income tax during his administration to balance the state budget. Broderick broke with his former running mate and promised a balanced budget no income tax, which Shafer deemed was not possible.[4]
In the 1979 case, Gilfillan v. City of Philadelphia, Broderick ruled that, under the Establishment Clause, the city of Philadelphia could not use taxpayer funds in constructing a platform for Pope John Paul II to use for a mass on his visit to the city. He ordered the city to seek reimbursement for construction costs from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.[10][11]
Death
Broderick died of cancer in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania on August 6, 2000.[1]
^Scott, P.M.; Ferleger, D. (1983). "Rights and dignity: Congress, the Supreme Court, and people with disabilities after Pennhurst". Western New England Law Review. 5 (3): 327–61. PMID11658602.
^Anti-Institutionalization and the Supreme Court, 14 Rutgers L.Rev. 595 (1983).
