When jack Gratzianna of O'hare Towing & Recovery took the city of Northlake, Illinois to court, he was doing more than standing up to City Hall. Whether or not he realized it at the time (and I think he did), Gratzianna was standing up for towmen nationwide. "If this was upheld," said Jack, "any town or city could hire or fire towmen at will." Gratzianna donated funds to the sitting mayor's political opponent, who lost the election. The mayor took O'Hare off the city's rotation list. They made no bones about it. The mayor's assistant visited Gratzianna and said as much. In fact, the city boasted it's right to hire and fire as they pleased all the way to the Supreme court, when they learned that Gratzianna just wouldn't play dead. "We expended our resources through two lower court defeats," recounted Jack. "That's when the ACLU and Harvey Grossman showed interest and asked to step in." Meanwhile, Gratzianna had taken a big business risk. "We've lost at lest two other towns who were politically connected to Northlake's administration. In Northlake alone, over the 60 months our case has been dragging on, we've lost upwards of $300,000 in police tows." But big victories are seldom won without the courage to fight the battle. Gratzianna is a unique character, and as it turned out, the wrong one for the city's mayor to slap in the face. Had Northlake's mayor visited O'Hare's shop in person, he might have sensed what he was running up against, and thought to leave things be. O'Hare's towing and truck repair business is crawling with Gratziannas who think the world of "Poppa" and the company legacy. From sons to daughters to daughter-in-laws, the company runs family "can do' spirit, From Jack and Gail, to their son, Bill (who now runs the shop), all the way down the line, the Gratianna's are both friendly and tough. Take Marcy, Bill's wife. She works the computer, does the books, rides a Harley, and has been known to smoke fine, hand rolled cigars. The friendliest person in the world. But-I would never suggest any one go up against her. Had the mayor met Marcy and the rest of the O'Hare team, I doubt there ever would have been a cause to fight City Hall in the first place. Call it courage, or just plain stubbornness, Jack Gratzianna is now an American hero. The Supreme Court ruled that governments could not punish vendors and contractors for political affiliation alone, that they too had the right of free speech without recrimination. The Court rolled another case into this decision, one in which a sanitation company in Kansas was suing its city for the same reason O'Hare Towing had taken on Northlake, Illinois. "That fella wrote editorials that ran in the newspaper there," explained Gratzianna, " I sent contribution checks to the administration's opponent. "Can you imagine what this country would be like if no businessman could make comments, or support who he pleased? That's the first amendment." And so the Gratzianna clan sat in the pews of the big court, somewhat in awe as the nine Supreme Court justices heard testimony from both sides and deliberated aloud about the merits of the case. Gratzianna recalled when Justice Stevens asked the Northlake attorney, "Do Democratic towers do it differently than Replublican towers?" "The case itself was thrilling," Gratzianna says, "because it had an impact on all Americans. But it was gratifying. sitting in that chamber, just hearing the Supreme Court justices talking about the towing business- impounds, rotations, accident tows, and the like. After all the hits and snubs the industry has taken through its history, here we were on the bench before the highest court in the land. You can't be taken more seriously than that." While it was Gratzianna's fighting spirit that brought the case so far, he needed help to win. Gratzianna credits ACLU's Harvey Grossman for his great presentation before the bench and Mike McGovern for his assisting Grossman. But perhaps there would be no winner's circle, according to Gratzianna, were it not for TRAA's president, Roger Coffey, who ordered an Amicus Curia brief in O'Hare's support. According to the Justices themselves, ruling 7 to 2 in favor of O'Hare, it was this brief that swayed their decision (see The Latest on page 9). Towing has never had a hero like Jack Gratzianna. His battle and his victory is monumental. In one punch, after rising twice from the canvas, individual towmen across the nation found out they had rights, and strength. After taking blows to his business and his resources, Gratzianna fought on, and towing organizations across the country realized they had rifles that could hit the far targets. As the critical supporting player, the Towing and Recovery Association of America not only clinched the win; but, in doing so, clearly defined its role of who it is and why it is here. How far we go from here depends on how we size up both our individual and collective strengths. But from now on, whenever a doubting Thomas raises his voice, one can say with great spirit, "Remember Gratzianna!"
It Takes A Hero To Wake An Industry
By Steven Calitri
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