Career
He was Gary"s first Irish Catholic mayor. He defeated the Republican incumbent Ernst Schaible, the last Republican to hold the office, with 58% of the vote. Finerty"s election was the first Gary election in which a majority of voters in the all-black Midtown neighborhood voted for the Democratic rather than the Republican party.
In 1945, Finerty became enmeshed in a bitter controversy over racial integration of Froebel High School (since closed).
Backlash against his support for the school"s pro-integration principal led him to withdraw his name from candidacy for reelection in 1947. Upon retirement, Finerty had a personal estate of United States$3 million, despite having made only $8,000 per year in salary.