Phyllis Diller Quotes
Remember, only a policeman is allowed to express himself on an expressway.
Diller, Phyllis. Phyllis Diller's Marriage Manual. Doubleday, 1967.
The mayor had resisted the rebuilding of a major downtown elevated highway when it was discovered that it was badly in need of repair. Typically, local officials accede to almost any pressure from AAA and the commercial interests wanting to see traffic flow maintained and improved. But a large proportion of the citizens preferred to have the downtown open to the waterfront and wanted the highway torn down despite the negative impact on vehicular traffic. Typically the traffic interests would prevail but Nickles refused to “pander” to the traffic interests.
This proclamation was obviously unconstitutional, but at the time no one challenged it in the courts. It is yet another example, where in an emergency, executive officers of government tend to over-reach and expand their power and authority using the necessity of the emergency as the justification. This case was particularly ironic in that the mayor, so concerned with law and order that he would summarily kill people suspected of looting, was indicted and convicted for corruption the following year. His jail time was limited by a successful court appeal, and he then lost as a mayoralty candidate, but did finally get elected to the San Francisco City Council. Of course, had he been shot when first suspected of his crime—as he proscribed for others--he would never have had the opportunity to appeal and be acquitted.
Phyllis Ada Diller was an American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician, and visual artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, self-deprecating humor, wild hair and clothes, and exaggerated, cackling laugh.
