Joe Quimby

Joseph "Joe" Quimby, Jr., aka "Diamond Joe" (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is a fictional character featured in The Simpsons animated series. He has long served as the Mayor of the fictional city of Springfield, and appears to be a slick, sleazy politician whose only interest lies in staying in power for the fringe benefits it brings. Those benefits apparently include squandering tax dollars for personal use, and gaining access to large numbers of nubile young women. He speaks with a New England accent which resembles that of John F. Kennedy. Like the president, the mayor comes from great wealth, and lives on a lavish coastal estate with his family not unlike the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, Massachusetts. He does not get along with local police chief Clancy Wiggum.

Assisted by his equally slick and sleazy aides, Joe can be expected to turn up at any public event and promise exactly what the audience wants to hear. For instance, after discovering that the only thing that interests the residents of the Springfield Retirement Home is Matlock (a TV detective series that ran between 1986 and 1995), he promptly decides to name a new freeway the "Matlock Expressway". He is also known to be a womanizer and to occasionally amuse himself with pornographic playing cards during particularly boring town meetings.

It has been implied on occasion that Joe is connected to Fat Tony, the local Mafia Don.

Quimby, a member of the United States Democratic Party, was elected mayor of Springfield in 1986, and 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. The fact that Quimby was a draft dodger who smokes marijuana and routinely cheats on his wife has earned him the hatred of Springfield's small but vocal Republican elite. With Sideshow Bob as their candidate, the party rigged a mayoral election, which briefly deposed Quimby. He was re-instated when Bob was found guilty of fraud and imprisoned.

For much of the series, Quimby's reign in Springfield was unquestioned. However, it seems that he may get into some political trouble, as his womanizing has led to a large amount of pregnancies. These women held a protest in one of the episodes.

In the episode Lisa's Wedding, set several years into the future, we find out that Quimby eventually relinquished his position as mayor and ends up being a cab driver for Otto's taxi company using the alias "Mohammed Jafar," a likely reference to disgraced former West Virginia Governor William C. Marland's turn as a cabbie in Chicago after leaving office.

The mayor's surname is taken from Quimby Street, which is on the north side of Portland, Oregon, Matt Groening's hometown. Joe Quimby's striking resemblance to Jiri Paroubek, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, ignited speculations that the Czech politician inspired the creators of Quimby.

Quotes

"Can't we have one meeting that doesn't end with someone digging up a corpse?"

QUIMBY: "All right, I'm in charge here."
WIGGUM: "Oh, run along Quimby. I think they're dedicating a phone booth somewhere."
QUIMBY: "Watch it you talking tub of donut batter."

QUIMBY: "Are they [the crowd] getting dumber or just louder?"
AIDE: "Ah-h, (checks his clickboard,) dumber sir."

AIDE [whispering]: "Election in November, Election in November!"
QUIMBY: "What? Again!? This Stupid Country."

"Did I, uh, hear a briefcase opening?"

"Can't this town go one day without a riot?"

"I stand by my racial slur."

"Do you mind! I am just trying to have a quiet meal with my secret other family!"

See also

• The Simpsons

Preceded by: unknown	Mayor of Springfield (1986 - 1994)	Followed by: Robert U. Terwilliger (briefly)
Preceded by: Robert U. Terwilliger	Mayor of Springfield (1994 - present)	Followed by: Incumbent