Karen Heller: Nutter's promise is still unrealized

It's the one-year anniversary of the collapse of the financial markets and Mayor Nutter's "we're living in perilous times" speech. Back then, the city shortfall was a mere $450 million. A year later, we're still mired in the same financial purgatory.

As the Pennsylvania budgetary impasse of 2009 continues, residents may wonder what precisely is getting done, if anything.

Nutter has frequently decamped to Harrisburg, where he's gamboling the Capitol's corridors, hoping to do some good. But what does it say about the collective talents of his staff, the local delegation, or Gov. Rendell, a former mayor, when Nutter feels compelled to move shop to argue the city's case?

The budget morass is Exhibit A in how the legislative process is broken and how strained relations between state and city remain when, year after year, this sad, energy-sucking exercise plays out like Groundhog Day. It makes you wonder about the pain threshold, wisdom, and collective masochism of our elected officials.

Such financial gaper delays take on lives of their own. They're named like battles - the Budget Impasse of 2009 - but lack the glory. Pennsylvania, rarely No. 1 in anything, has distinguished itself by being last, the only state left unable to get its finances in order.

At 10 weeks and counting, this year turns out to be consistently awful if unremarkable given that the ignominious conflict of 2003 took nine months. Babies were conceived and born! Thanksgiving and Pearl Harbor Day came and went!

This Beckett rendition has been theatrically enhanced by Nutter's repeated Chicken Little soliloquies about the sky falling and the doomsday shambles of Plan C. His performance has grown stale and thin. And could be revived if the budget doesn't pass next week. Then, we can live the dream all over again.

The problem with this prophecy of doom is no one has ever believed the threats - principally that the city would cut cops - when the murder rate has fallen 30 percent since 2007, and the appointment of Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey is one of Nutter's success stories.

This week, though, Rendell joined the doomsday chorus, saying that if the Senate doesn't agree to the current proposal in advance, "that's going to be a disaster for the city of Philadelphia." It reminds me of the Lemony Snicket books, A Series of Unfortunate Events, depicting a hailstorm of bad stuff, except in this case this is a series of yuck. However, nothing, not Senate Republicans nor the appearance of a nuance of a threat of imminent economic ruin, will deter the governor from his Eagles Postgame Live gig tomorrow. I mean, the man has priorities.

Then again, Rendell's a lame duck with no more elections looming. He doesn't give a fig about his popularity. "I don't care if I get down to 10 percent," he told the Inquirer editorial board Tuesday. In terms of the polls, "I'm still clobbering the legislature."

Nutter, however, risks being collateral damage. The mayor was ushered in on a wave of goodwill. He hired bright people with beautiful resumés who, alas, do not seem to constitute a cohesive team capable of getting much done. He's mired in undoing John F. Street's work, worrying about the smell of doing business as usual when, for better or worse, that's the way things get done. He's not playing well with others, including City Council, where he served almost 15 years.

Instead, Nutter appears to be an isolated micromanager, failing to delegate or to listen to criticism. He's in danger of becoming Jimmy Carter. And he's squandering an excellent chance to lead, to make a difference.

And for someone who loves this city, who long believed in Nutter and thought he was the best person for the job, it breaks my heart.