MONDAY
E-mail a friendMayor Michael Nutter
airdate April 16, 2008
Michael Nutter was elected mayor of Philadelphia in an historic landslide last November. He previously served on the city council and as Democratic leader of the 52nd Ward. Prior to going into public service, Nutter worked as an investment manager at one of the nation's leading minority-owned investment banking and brokerage firms. In '01, he was appointed to the Board of City Trusts, which manages the city's charitable assets. The lifetime Philadelphian is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business.
Mayor Michael Nutter
Tavis: Michael Nutter is serving his first term as mayor of Philadelphia after nearly 15 years on the city council in his hometown. Next week is, of course, the Democratic presidential primary in Pennsylvania and Mayor Nutter has maintained his steadfast support for Senator Hillary Clinton. He joins us tonight from the City of Brotherly Love, and I like to say sisterly affection.
Mayor Michael Nutter: Absolutely.
Tavis: Mayor Nutter, nice to have you on the program.
Nutter: Tavis, thank you. Thank you so much for the invitation.
Tavis: No, I'm delighted to have you on. Let me start by asking the obvious question, which is why you are supporting Hillary Clinton. Then we can unpack this thing a little bit more.
Nutter: Sure, absolutely. I had an incredible opportunity to talk with two historic candidates before the season really started back in December of last year. I talked with both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama in person and by phone about the issues that I thought would be most important to Philadelphia and many other cities across the country as I was about to come into office.
And I talked with them about public safety issues and the importance of education, investments in our infrastructure and mass transit systems, creating jobs and economic opportunity, how do we deal with ex-offenders and homelessness, as well as the large issue of poverty, especially in a city like Philadelphia. We have a significantly high poverty rate here.
And after going through that exercise, which I understand not every person gets a chance to do, it became clear to me that on the issues that matter to people in cities and metropolitan areas, clearly Senator Clinton was the choice. She has a depth and breath of understanding of these issues. She knows what the challenges are in big cities all across America and our small towns.
And then I just made the decision based on issues. I'm an issues person. I'm about getting things done and about results. I need a friend in Washington, and someone who really understands the challenges of running a big city in America like Philadelphia.
Tavis: I hear your answer and I respect your answer, as I suspect many others do here tonight, whether or not they agree with it. That said, there are those who say -
Nutter: I understand that.
Tavis: That said, though, Mayor, there are those who've suggested that with all that you've just explained about why you are supporting her, there are those who would then say that the real reason is that when you ran for mayor, Obama supported another guy running. But I wanna give you a chance to answer it. That's why I'm asking.
There's another brother who was running for mayor who Barack Obama supported at the time. You cleaned everybody's clock (laughter) and as a result -
Nutter: Well, I wouldn't say that.
Tavis: Well, as a result, you are the - but you came out on top, you're the mayor of Philadelphia now. But how much of this, if any, has to do with the fact that this is your way to get back at him for not supporting you when you ran for mayor?
Nutter: Yeah, that's been asked a couple times, same response. One, it's - I'm not saying that it's silly for you to ask; I know you have to ask. But for people to think something like that on such an important decision, it really is silly. It had nothing to do with the factor in that decision. As a matter of fact, Congressman Fatah, a number of his supporters are now in my administration, including my own chief of staff, who was a supporter of his.
Senator Obama had every right, and I had an expectation, since they served in the United States Congress together, had every right to support Congressman Fatah for mayor. I respect everyone's right to be for someone in any race, which is what I'm doing in this race. I'm expressing the right I have to support the candidate that I think is best qualified.
But the impact of last year's election has nothing to do with the decision in made with regard to who I would support to be president of the United States of America. And it's just - it's interesting to speculate, but it really is kind of silly.
Tavis: Not unlike you, I respect everybody's right to make his or her own choice as well, to be free-thinking individuals, and yet that said, there are those - and this is full disclosure, although I think it's been so widely reported I don't need to offer full disclosure. I have caught hell, as you have, and I've not endorsed anybody; I don't do that. As a talk show host on PBS and public radio, I don't endorse.
But just trying to hold people accountable, trying to raise critical issues, has gotten some - has brought fire my way. And you know, I prefer light, but I can take the heat, I'm a big boy, no big deal. That said, though, I understand what you're going through and I wanna ask how it feels, then, when you respect other people's right to make their own decision, to then to have yourself called a hater, a traitor, a sell-out, an Uncle Tom, for not supporting the guy in this race who happens to be Black. How do you process that?
Nutter: Well, I have to tell you I guess at least to my face, no one has said that and I haven't heard that kind of language. Now what people chat about in their own privacy, that's a whole nother story. But generally, I'm the kind of guy - I grew up in west Philly, so you got something to say to me, you need to say it to my face. Otherwise, keep it to yourself.
I know that certainly some people have their concerns and you know, look, I've explained it six ways to Sunday. It's the same answer. I think that we have to be progressive enough; we have to be mature enough in our politics that we give everyone the freedom to be for who they wanna be for. I'm a Democrat, so when this process is over, when Pennsylvania votes, when another nine or 10 states and territories vote, when we get a Democratic nominee, I'm for Senator Clinton.
If somehow, someway, Senator Obama is the successful Democratic nominee, then I'm gonna be out there supporting our Democratic nominee who could be Senator Obama. What's the issue? We're trying to win in November. Everybody has a right to support the candidate of their choice. They're two incredible candidates, they both have the opportunity, they're on the verge of potentially making history in this country, and whether it's the first woman president of the United States or the first African American, we need to be more serious about all of this and stop some of this little schoolyard stuff.
Tavis: What's your sense, then, of what is going to happen in the Keystone State? I'm just reading a poll out today that suggests, as do other polls, that while Senator Clinton has been out front in Pennsylvania all the way through, that the race is tightening?
Nutter: Not a surprise. Pennsylvania is a bit of a microcosm of the United States. There's a couple big cities, suburbs, rural areas, and many different views and opinions. Certainly Senator Obama has dominated the airwaves two to one, possibly three to one in massive spending, but race is always tight in Pennsylvania.
It'll pretty much come down to this last week. Both candidates I know are working very, very hard, crisscrossing the state, spending a fair amount of time in Philly. We appreciate, of course, the attention, but it is certainly my expectation, and what I'm working toward is a win for Senator Clinton. She is, in my view, at least, the candidate who best matches up for the fall election, as I talked about earlier.
Certainly the issues that I think matter. Not a lot of this personality and what you said and what you propose to do, but demonstrated track record of 35 years of getting things done, looking out for women and children and supporting education initiatives, taking on the tough issues like healthcare and many other issues. She's the real deal, she gets it, she understands what we're about, and I'm proud to support her and I'm looking forward to Tuesday the 22nd.
Tavis: One of the reasons, I suspect, why you were elected and for that matter, whoever got elected in Philadelphia as the next mayor was going to get the support of the people because they believe that they would do something about one issue above all others: crime.
Nutter: Absolutely.
Tavis: I ain't got to tell you that your City of Brotherly Love and sisterly affection has been inundated with an epidemic of homicides. What's happening in Philadelphia, is the problem getting any better?
Nutter: Yes, actually, I'm very pleased to report, although we haven't had any big press conference or anything, I've only been in office 101 days, so not time for celebration yet. But certainly the good news is the numbers are moving in the right direction. Our homicides are down about 25 percent year to date compared to this same time last year. Aggravated assaults and robberies also in double-digit decreases. And so things are looking very positive for Philadelphia.
Tavis: What do you attribute that to?
Nutter: There are always a lot of factors in terms of why crime goes down and an equal number of factors for why crime goes up. I think we've set a new spirit here in this city. We have a new police commissioner, Charles Ramsey, formerly out of D.C. He's energized the police department, given some new ideas, but also gone back to some of the basics. We've identified our nine worst police districts out of 23, called them targeted enforcement zones. We put more officers in there.
We're going after people with illegal weapons, using constitutionally legal stop, question, and frisk tactics, bringing community policing back to the neighborhoods of Philadelphia. So there's a lot of different strategies, but also I'd say we're actively going after ex-offenders and trying to help them get back into civil society.
We have a $10,000 tax credit that we offer to businesses who hire an ex-offender to help people get a second chance. Everybody has needed a second chance at some point in time in their life, and certainly folks who have made a mistake, paid their debt to society, we need to give them a helping hand. So we've got a lot of things going on here in Philadelphia. Things are looking up for us.
Tavis: Finally, with all the talk about presidential politics, there's one question certainly in Philadelphia that looms much more important than that, and given that the schedule came out yesterday, how are the Eagles going to do this year?
Nutter: (Laughs) I think things are really looking good for the Eagles. We're excited about the schedule. I think the team is turning itself around. Donovan is going to lead the troops and I'm looking forward to the playoff experience.
Tavis: He's the new mayor, 101 days now, the City of Brotherly Love and sisterly affection; I love the city of Philadelphia. Mayor Michael Nutter, nice -
Nutter: Come on out, now.
Tavis: And you know I'll be back, I come all the time. I'll see you soon. Nice to have you on the program.
Nutter: All righty. Gotcha. Thank you, man.
Tavis: Thank you, Mayor.
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