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DN Editorial: Michael Nutter for mayor (Sorry, Milton!)

FOUR YEARS AGO, our endorsement of MICHAEL NUTTER ran with a one-word subhead: "DUH!" The choice in the general election was that obvious. Republican Al Taubenberger offered only token resistance, and Nutter had emerged from an impressive field to win the Democratic primary in this one-party town's de facto mayor's race.

FOUR YEARS AGO, our endorsement of MICHAEL NUTTER ran with a one-word subhead: "DUH!"

The choice in the general election was that obvious. Republican Al Taubenberger offered only token resistance, and Nutter had emerged from an impressive field to win the Democratic primary in this one-party town's de facto mayor's race.

This year, he is virtually unopposed for the nomination (sorry, Milton), and his overall record has earned him our enthusiastic endorsement.

The mayor had barely finished repeating the oath of office before he was forced to wield a budget ax and collect more money. There were a few false starts on the revenue side, such as his ill-conceived proposals for a tax on sugary beverages and an annual fee for trash collection.

Though unpopular, his decision to institute a series of rolling brownouts in city firehouses has saved money without endangering anyone. And there has there been no a significant impact on basic city services resulting from the budget cuts.

But his budget-cutting prowess may be best viewed by what didn't get cut - most notably, the city's share of the school district budget.

His emphasis on ethics has been producing tangible results. The city's property-acquisition process is more transparent and rational. The same is true of requests for proposals that were too often written to the advantage of favored bidders.

A steady stream of disciplinary actions and even indictments of police officers and public officials reflect this administration's zero tolerance for official corruption.

The mayor has assembled a strong supporting cast, not just at the Cabinet level but also in his appointments to city boards and commissions. They deserve some credit for maintaining the pace of development along the waterfront and at the Navy Yard in a challenging economic climate.

He has begun a dialogue with regional partners, lobbied our congressional delegation effectively and made the best of a fractious relationship with our, ahh, friends in Harrisburg.

But this opening act has been short on vision.

There is no signature program or initiative. Even hamstrung by an economy that can scarcely support the status quo, we expected him to begin establishing more of a legacy than he has. And we would have expected him to establish a more effective working relationship with his former colleagues on City Council.

Nor is there any excuse for his failure to hammer out a labor agreement with the city's unions. City workers have been left in limbo for far too long. Without those agreements, the city cannot clearly assess its economic picture.

And, for all of his emphasis on ethics, we are disappointed in his delayed and weak responses to scandals in the Philadelphia Housing Authority and the School Reform Commission. We should have heard more from the mayor when former Executive Director Carl Greene was dragging PHA through the mud. The city's reform mayor was notably silent when his SRC appointee Robert Archie became embroiled in what would appear to be an abortive attempt to shift a lucrative charter-school contract to a company Archie's law firm once represented.

Even so, Michael Nutter is still an obvious enough choice to earn a second "DUH."

But we'll withhold the exclamation point until further notice.

The GOP nomination

JOHN FEATHERMAN is our choice for the GOP nod.

He is smart, feisty and a breath of fresh air in a party that rarely puts up much of a fight.