IF YOU'RE Mayor Nutter, you could be excused for feeling a little bruised lately.

The transit union president publicly mocks you, calling you "Little Caesar."

That's after you had to back down twice this year in fights with City Council over property taxes and city pensions.

You even hear stories of theater audiences' booing your cameo in the film "Law Abiding Citizen."

The little slights would be easy to shake off if they weren't emblematic of a deeper frustration with the mayor that comes up in lunch meetings, boardrooms and phone calls across the city.

Though few will say it publicly, there is a growing concern among some elected officials and political insiders that after almost two years in office, Nutter's political clout has dwindled, that his administration is struggling and that his policy agenda has stalled.

"I don't know if there's anybody out there [who] feels good about what he's accomplished to date or doing now," said Brett Mandel, former head of the tax-reform organization Philadelphia Forward. "The gamut runs from folks who were really enthusiastic and are now soured, to folks who are underwhelmed but still holding out hope."

The two-year mark could be a difficult point for a mayor under any circumstances. The political honeymoon is long over and fatigue is setting in. And, as Nutter's supporters point out, he has also been faced with a global economic crisis throughout most of his term. They say that he should get credit for balancing the budget amid massive deficits, as well as other successes, like overseeing a decline in the homicide rate.

"I think the mayor has performed amazingly well in incredibly difficult circumstances that nobody could have anticipated," said Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen, who served as chief of staff to then-Mayor Rendell. "I can't disagree with you that there are people who are expressing unhappiness. Unfortunately, I think that sort of thing comes with the territory."

Nutter is now looking ahead to another tough year in which he is expected to make further budget cuts and still must negotiate cost-saving contracts with the city's four municipal unions - both efforts that could get him more enemies. And on top of that, he has to launch his bid for re-election in 2011.

Still, Nutter said yesterday that he is hopeful about the future, and stressed that he thinks most Philadelphians still want him to succeed.

"Whatever the criticism may be, and I understand it and I acknowledge it . . . the number one comment I get is, 'Mayor, you're doing a very tough job at the worst possible time and I know you're doing the best that you can,' " Nutter said.

Budget blues

 

Nutter, who sailed into office with a resounding general-election win, saw his problems begin last fall, when he announced the first in a series of budget gaps. A proposal to shut some libraries raised community ire. Later, a plan to balance the budget through temporary property-tax hikes outraged Council.

Then Nutter's whole administration bogged down for months this year as he battled to get budget-relief legislation passed in Harrisburg. The successful fight exhausted his administration.

Unfortunately for Nutter, the battles aren't over yet. But many question if Nutter has the political clout now to get the kind of union-contract savings he needs.

Nutter, who gave one-year contracts to all four unions last year, has a budget that relies on giving no raises to the city's 22,000 city workers and getting $125 million in additional savings from the contracts over five years. The contracts expired June 30 and no new deals have been reached.

"He had the political capital last summer to get any deal he wanted to with the municipal unions, and he could have taken a strike," said political consultant Larry Ceisler, who said that Nutter was not in the same situation today.

Nutter's involvement in the SEPTA negotiations hasn't helped his image as a skilled contract negotiator, either. TWU President Willie Brown publicly blamed Nutter for the walkout, calling it "Nutter's strike," a characterization Nutter questioned.