New job opening: Nutter's spokesman

There's a homecoming in the works for Doug Oliver.

Mayor Nutter's spokesman since he took office, Oliver is expected soon to announce that he is leaving the administration for a senior level job with the Philadelphia Gas Works – where he worked for more than three years before the mayor took office.

Oliver this afternoon would not comment except to say, "I'm serving as the mayor's press secretary. If there is something to say, there will be an announcement."

Oliver, who earns about $114,000 a year, oversees a five-person staff. One of the most visible members of the mayor's inner circle, he has been a steady presence in an administration that has confronted a number of crises, including police deaths, an economic recession and political feuds with independent agencies such as the Board of Revision of Taxes.

At the city-owned Philadelphia Gas Works, Oliver served as director of corporate communications. Before that, he worked as the press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. Oliver also has an MBA from St. Joseph's University.

Other high-profile officials who have left the administration include Camille Barnett, the former managing director who resigned as of June 30 with no immediate plans, and Andrew Altman, who last year gave up his job as commerce director and deputy mayor for planning and economic development to move to London to help with development in that city after the 2012 Summer Olympics.

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