Nutter bristles at teachers' union's ad campaign

MAYOR NUTTER YESTERDAY called the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers' recent ad campaign - which accuses him of "cozying up" to Gov. Corbett - a mere distraction.

"It's a part of a planned distraction campaign that gets all of you talking about that and not talking about how we select teachers to be in classrooms, how we fill vacancies and how folks should pay something for their health care," Nutter told reporters. "I'm not getting distracted by that. I'm focused on what's in the best interest of children."

The television ad depicts Kia Hinton, a mother of three who scolds the mayor for allegedly not doing enough to fund the struggling school district.

"You promised to do right by my kids, but you've sided with Gov. Corbett," Hinton says in a scathing 30-second ad. "You've let us all down."

The ad was part of a television and radio campaign that began airing last week just as Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called on her 1.5 million-member union in an email to tell Nutter that "all Philadelphia children deserve more. They deserve leadership that invests in their schools, their futures and their neighborhoods."

The heat on Nutter comes as the PFT's contract is set to expire on Saturday and months after Superintendent William Hite asked the district's unions for $133 million in concessions.

Nutter said yesterday that he has sent City Council legislation over the years that would have generated $1.2 billion for schools between 2012 and 2018, some of which Council approved.

- Jan Ransom