- “So I'm ready to receive my bribe now?”
- ―Joe Quimby
Joseph Fitzgerald O'Malley Fitzpatrick O'Donnell the Edge "Diamond Joe" Quimby, better known as Mayor Quimby is the Mayor of Springfield, Springfield's State. He appears as a slick, opportunistic politician whose chief priorities seem to be keeping himself in office, womanizing, and various other forms of corruption, including embezzling tax money, taking bribes from Fat Tony, the local Mafia Don, and giving monthly kickbacks to Police Chief Wiggum. The seal on the wall of his office reads "Corruptus in Extremis," which is "dog Latin" for "extremely corrupt."
Biography
Despite being mayor for such a long time, Quimby does not know or care much about his city, often privately (or even publicly) showing his outright contempt for Springfield's citizens. He frequently takes overseas vacations, which take him out of town for extended periods of time, leading to the headline "Mayor Visits City" in the Springfield Shopper. He once referred to Springfield as Sprungfeld at a public meeting. However, he makes frequent, albeit short, public appearances for local festivities, events, business openings, etc.
Mayor Quimby with Homer Simpson
If bending the law will suit Quimby's purposes, he will likely do so. He once arranged Marge Simpson's release after she was arrested for blocking traffic on a bridge after suffering a nervous breakdown, claiming that if she went to jail, Quimby could kiss the "chick vote" goodbye meaning all the women in Springfield would hate him and no longer vote for him since Marge reason for blocking the traffic was understandable. He also resorted to bribing witnesses when assault charges were brought against his nephew, leading Bart Simpson to observe that "the system works: just ask Claus von Bülow". He was once implied to have stolen picnic baskets.[1] He is also willing to do corrupt things when he is confident that he would not get caught. A notable instance of this is when he funneled funds and cement mixings intended for road work to be used to create his swimming pool (which is shown as a lavish, almost Roman-esque design) and maintained this secret despite rumors to it existing until Mr. X leaked the rumor onto his website and the press confirmed the rumor upon questioning Quimby after noticing him subtly telling a guard to close the ajar door to the pool.[2]
Despite his vices and general self-serving use of the law, he has at times attempted to utilize the law for the greater good of Springfield, such as enacting "Code Black" to clean up Lake Springfield, as well as the (albeit largely ignored) establishing of a 75 cent toll booth in order to gain enough tax money to "de-python the town fountain." In another time, during a St. Patrick's Day, knowing how alcohol makes people violent in the city, he PROHIBITS alcoholic drinks that day in order not to be held responsible for any incident (unfortunately, the plan backfired due the participation of actual Irish Catholics and Protestants caused havoc in Springfield anyway because, without the alcohol, they were unable to forget their differences).
His catch phrase is "Vote Quimby", which he always finds an opportunity to say, even in situations where it would be disadvantageous to identify himself, like inadvertently being caught by Homer in a motel room with his mistress.
When he was young, he was at fat camp named "Camp Flab-Away" along with Comic Book Guy, Homer and other characters.
Elections
Quimby was elected Mayor of Springfield in 1986. He has been re-elected several times since, despite rather open admissions of fraud and wrongdoing. He once admitted to using taxpayer dollars to fund the murder of his enemies, but thanks to a clever use of a popular catch phrase ("I'm a bad wittle boy"), he was re-elected in a landslide. Further evidence of his apparent political ideology, Quimby has earned himself the hatred of Springfield's small but vocal Republican elite, themselves portrayed as mostly dark, ghoulish figures who meet in a castle.
Vote Quimby
When the party nominated Sideshow Bob as its mayoral candidate, Bob rigged the election, briefly deposing Quimby. He was re-instated when Bob was found guilty of fraud and imprisoned. He also survived a recall election in 2005, with no candidate in the race against him (candidates included Rainier Wolfcastle (another Schwarzenegger reference), Kent Brockman, and even Homer Simpson) garnering the 5% necessary to force a recall since Homer who had the majority of votes was kicked from the election.
He was replaced by Snowball II for a brief period, until she fell asleep during the whole British Invasion of Springfield.
In "White Christmas Blues", Quimby called the Springfieldians idiots, which leads to Lenny and Carl saying "Why did we re-elect this mayor?", which occurred because the other candidate had a very long last name.
Non-Canon
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The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened/existed. |
In “Lisa's Wedding”, he is later seen as a Taxi Driver. It's implied in the episode that he was thrown out of office, and he has to try to deflect the embarrassment and shame of the event by falsifying his Drivers License by claiming that his name is Mohammad Jafar.
In one of the Simpson's Halloween Comics, it is hinted that his father is John F Kennedy.
The Simpsons Game
Joe Quimby appears mostly in the cutscenes of the level Mob Rules as he shares a hot-tub and some interns with the EA Games executive in order to receive his bribe to have Grand Theft Scratchy be sold to minors. When the EA Games executive sees a senator among the mob created by Marge protesting the sale of the game outside City Hall, he takes back the bribe, forcing Quimby to ban the sale of the game.
The Simpsons: Tapped Out
In the game, you get to level 20 in Town Hall.
Icon
Quimby in the game
Quimby zombie
Behind the Laughter
Origin of name
Joe Quimby's name partly comes from NW Quimby Street in Portland, Oregon, the hometown of show creator Matt Groening. The rest of the character's name is from Portland mobster and chief of police, "Diamond" Jim Purcell.
Comparisons to the Kennedy family
There are many things about Quimby and his family that are similar to Ted Kennedy and
Joe smiling
the Kennedy political family such as:
- He speaks with a Boston accent, in a style most resembling that of Ted Kennedy, commonly separating words with "er" and "ah".
- The mayor is a Democrat, like the Kennedys.
- He enjoys lavish wealth.
- He lives on a coastal estate (the "Quimby compound") with his family—not unlike the Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport, Massachusetts.
- Quimby is married to a woman who wears a pink suit and pillbox hat similar to one Jacqueline Kennedy made famous, whom he met while she was working in Maison Derrière. She may be also related to actor Rainier Wolfcastle, who is modeled after Arnold Schwarzenegger (husband of Ted Kennedy's niece, Maria Shriver); Wolfcastle has been spotted at Quimby family functions.
- The Kennedy family is Irish and so is Joe Quimby.
- The mayor's nephew, Freddy Quimby, was once tried for assault (a reference to the William Kennedy Smith rape trial) during which Mayor Quimby tried to bribe witnesses.
- One of his many middle names is Fitzgerald, which was president John F. Kennedy's middle name.
- In The Simpsons Road Rage, he can say "You drive worse than cousin Teddy!" if his driver is behaving chaotically. This is a reference to the Chappaquiddick Incident, where Mary Jo Kopechne, a female passenger, was killed when Ted Kennedy accidentally drove his car off a bridge.
During the USAToday.com contest to choose which Springfield would host the Simpsons Movie premiere, Ted Kennedy himself appears in a video in which he invited "Diamond Joe" Quimby to Springfield, Massachusetts, and even mocked his own oft-mocked pronunciation of the word "Chowder" (as "Chow-Dah").
In addition to the clear Kennedy connection, Quimby also has similarities with Charles Foster Kane, including having built an opera house for his girlfriend.
Womanizing ways
Joe in front of Wall of Fame
He is shown to be a womanizer and has cheated on his wife with many other women. In "She Used to Be My Girl", that number was revealed to be twenty-seven different women.
Some of the women became pregnant and later gave birth. In "And Maggie Makes Three", Quimby is seen in the hospital with one of the women, holding their baby.
Appearances
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Episode – "Bart Gets an "F"" - Episode – "Old Money"
- Episode – "Three Men and a Comic Book"
- Episode – "Blood Feud"
- Episode – "Stark Raving Dad"
- Episode – "When Flanders Failed"
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror II"
- Episode – "Saturdays of Thunder"
- Episode – "Flaming Moe's"
- Episode – "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk"
- Episode – "Radio Bart"
- Episode – "Homer Alone"
- Episode – "Separate Vocations"
- Episode – "Lisa the Beauty Queen"
- Episode – "Mr. Plow"
- Episode – "Homer at the Bat"
- Episode – "Bart's Friend Falls in Love"
- Episode – "Kamp Krusty"
- Episode – "A Streetcar Named Marge"
- Episode – "Homer the Heretic"
- Episode – "Lisa the Beauty Queen"
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror III"
- Episode – "Marge Gets a Job"
- Episode – "New Kid on the Block"
- Episode – "Mr. Plow"
- Episode – "Homer's Triple Bypass"
- Episode – "Marge vs. the Monorail"
- Episode – "Selma's Choice"
- Episode – "Brother from the Same Planet"
- Episode – "I Love Lisa"
- Episode – "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show"
- Episode – "The Front"
- Episode – "Whacking Day"
- Episode – "Marge in Chains"
- Episode – "Krusty Gets Kancelled"
- Episode – "Homer Goes to College"
- Episode – "Bart's Inner Child"
- Episode – "Burns' Heir"
- Episode – "Sideshow Bob Roberts"
- Episode – "And Maggie Makes Three"
- Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)"
- Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)"
- Episode – "Radioactive Man"
- Episode – "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming"
- Episode – "Team Homer"
- Episode – "Bart the Fink"
- Episode – "Lisa the Iconoclast"
- Episode – "22 Short Films About Springfield"
- Episode – "Much Apu About Nothing"
- Episode – "You Only Move Twice"
- Episode – "Bart After Dark"
- Episode – "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)"
- Episode – "Brother from Another Series"
- Episode – "My Sister, My Sitter"
- Episode – "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment"
- Episode – "The Cartridge Family"
- Episode – "This Little Wiggy"
- Episode – "Trash of the Titans"
- Episode – "Mayored to the Mob"
- Episode – "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington"
- Episode – "Pulpit Friction"
- Episode – "Homerland"
- – The Simpsons Movie
- Episode – "The Falcon and the D'ohman"
- Episode – "The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants"
- Episode – "The Simpsons Guy"
Video game – The Simpsons Road Rage
Video game – The Simpsons: Hit and Run
Video game – The Simpsons Game
Citations
External links
- Official site of Joe Quimby's 2000 presidential election campaign
- Mayored to the Mob: A Mayor Quimby Tribute