Nutter wins praise from Esquire
The magazine puts the mayor on a list of "20 Americans who have brought out the best of us in 2011"
Mayor Nutter is described as a "no nonsense truth-teller" in an upcoming issue of Esquire magazine, putting the mayor on a list of 20 "Americans of the Year." It's rarefied company. Others on the list include the late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple; billionaire investor Warren Buffett; Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren, the champion of the federal government's newest consumer protection agency, and local entrepreneur Todd Carmichael, co-owner of the coffee company La Colombe Torrefaction, honored for his work trying to revive the coffee industry in Haiti.
The theory of Esquire's list is to honor "those who have brought out the best of us in 2011." Of Nutter, the magazine gives him praise for the budget-cutting that reduced his local popularity. It describes his reaction to the economic downturn that struck soon after he took office: "Nutter immediately made tough choices: payroll cuts. Increases in taxes. Cuts in services. Shifting police veterans from desk work to patrol. But the city didn't fall apart...." It cites the city's reduced murder rate, the 311 information system, the redevelopment of the Navy Yard and the city's growth in the 2010 census.
Some political philosophy from the mayor himself: "If you have a deep-seated need to be loved and admired every day, you shouldn't be in politics. You should go work at a pet store."