Clarke gives Goode Jr. new post with more pay

Losing his reelection bid last year has worked out rather well for former Philadelphia City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr.

He will rejoin his colleagues on the fourth floor of City Hall, in a newly created post - senior policy adviser to Council President Darrell L. Clarke - earning slightly more from taxpayers than he did as a councilman.

Clarke's office announced the move Friday afternoon in a news release.

Goode, who lost his Democratic primary bid in May after four terms as an at-large councilman, will be paid $135,000 a year in the new post, Clarke spokeswoman Jane Roh said when asked about the salary. As a councilman, Goode was paid $129,373.

Roh said the position was already planned - and the salary set - before Goode's name came into the mix.

She said Goode will focus largely on antipoverty efforts, job training, and economic development in neighborhoods.

"If you're really going to make meaningful progress in neighborhoods that have 40 to 50 percent unemployment, you don't get that stuff done by leafleting," Roh said. "This work - antipoverty work and skills job training - takes a lot of focused attention and intention, and that's why you need someone who has not just institutional knowledge but knows all the partners and the stakeholders."

Goode made workforce development a key issue of his career on Council, where he pushed for increased employment preferences for city residents, fair wage standards, diversity goals for city contracts, and fair lending practices at banks.

Goode did not return calls Friday seeking comment but was quoted in the Council news release as saying of his appointment, "I look forward to working with President Clarke, Mayor Kenney, and Philadelphia's vast network of public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders to maximize the coordination of efforts to eradicate deep poverty and to ensure equitable economic growth in Philadelphia, once and for all."

Clarke praised his former colleague's legislative record in the release, crediting Goode with having authored "some of the most groundbreaking progressive legislation" ever approved by Council.

In the same news release, Kenney was quoted as praising the move and saying of Goode, "I know he will enhance the great work already being done by the Council president's office and all of City Council."

jterruso@phillynews.com

215-854-5506 @juliaterruso