McNulty was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on February 27, 1945 to Henry and Aloise McNulty, the eldest of six siblings. He was graduated from St. Patrick's High School in 1962 and the University of Scranton, where he received a degree in Political Science.
McNulty ran for mayor in the 1981 mayoral election. The flamboyant McNulty's trademark was the red rose. He handed out some 20,000 of them to both supporters and other courted members of the electorate during his career. His main campaign pledge was to try to revive the near dead coal mining city's economy with tourism. His plans helped to boost the city's profile and he won the November election.
Building a New Scranton
During his first and only term, he undertook several large scale projects designed to build a new economy to replace the lost coal mining industry. He attracted Steamtown, USA, a Hilton Hotels & Resorts and the Montage Ski Resort to Scranton, Pennsylvania, which is on a thoroughfare that "Jimmy" stated a million Canadians passed down on their way to gamble in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He convinced Houston Astros owner John McMullen to serve as developer of a civic arena for Scranton. This was said to be, itself, a 24 million dollar project.
Mayor as Promoter
McNulty also arranged several publicity stunts to draw attention to the city. He helped plan for the 1983 heavy weight title bout between Easton, Pennsylvania's Larry Holmes and French challenger Lucien Rodriguez to be fought in Scranton and as the network television cameras panned in on the champion Holmes' robe, there inside it was, instead, the 300 pound mayor "Jimmy" McNulty plugging the city of Scranton and its fight. McNulty also traveled extensively promoting "his" city. During the aftermath of Hurricane Gloria, "Jimmy" could be seen in his fire engine red "Scranton No. 1" warm up jacket, conspicuously, personally, directing hurricane cleanup.
James Barrett McNulty was married to Evie Rafalko-McNulty. In 2015, Evie threw her then 70-year-old husband James, who was battling late stage colon cancer, a birthday bash. The couple even managed to weave red roses into the theme. It is said that the turn-out for the party, which doubled as a fund raiser for the Foundation for Cancer Care, was quite large and that the party lasted for hours. Amidst the many politicos present to honor McNulty, including the senior United States Senator for Pennsylvania Bob Casey, Jr., and his wife Terese and Pennsylvania Attorney GeneralKathleen Kane, was a now 65 year old Larry Holmes. Evie Rafalko McNulty is, herself, a multi term Lackawanna County, PennsylvaniaRecorder of Deeds and a member of the Democratic National Committee. Rafalko-McNulty was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. In 1996, she was a presidential elector for Pennsylvania for William Jefferson Clinton. In 2015, Rafalko-McNulty was reported to have been snubbed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf when seeking the position as his Northeast Regional Director. Neither James McNulty nor Evie Rafalko-McNulty would comment to the press. McNulty died from effects of cancer and heart disease on March 2, 2016 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the city where he had lived his entire life.
