Letters: 4 more years for Nutter; that's not debatable...sadly

BY 8:01 p.m., a minute after the polls close on Tuesday, Nov. 8, Mayor Nutter will be projected as the winner of the general mayoral election, entitling him to another four-year term in City Hall.

For the people of Philadelphia, that should be very disappointing. Not the result, the process.

Like the former heavyweight champion Joe Louis, who repeatedly won by fighting a "bum of the month," Nutter coasted to re-election by defeating a convicted felon, Milton Street, in last May's primary and now, in the general election, is doing the same with an unknown, last minute Democrat-turned Republican, the inexperienced Karen Brown.

Philadelphians have been denied a robust debate on issues like budget priorities, education, pension reform, job creation, taxes and crime.

There has been no meaningful discussion about a vision for the city, or how to reconcile a prosperous, expanding Center City core with surrounding neighborhoods infested by high crime, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and low graduation rates.

Nutter is not to be blamed for the lack of opposition. It's what every politician hopes for - and works for.

While Nutter has often been described as a policy wonk, his abilities as a politician have been greatly underestimated.

During the past 3 1/2 years, he has adroitly cleared the field of any viable mayoral opponents. He has done this by walking a fine line between being the transformative reformer he portrayed himself as when he ran in 2007 and remaining part of the entrenched city political establishment. Literally, he has been both mayor and ward leader.

He has given everyone a semblance of what they want, a bit of reform here, a little bit there, but never too much to threaten the body politic and risk attracting well-known, well-funded opposition candidates.

He's effectively used the power of the incumbency, ensuring that he is always front and center, whether serving as the media-omnipresent key meteorologist during Hurricane Irene or the ever-present Waldo, cutting a ribbon wherever a ribbon can be found. Importantly, campaign-finance legislation that he honchoed as a city councilman made it difficult for a potential opponent to raise the funds to muster a viable campaign against the incumbent.

While there has been grousing about his failure to live up to his 2007 campaign expectations or to shake up the status quo, it never amounted to enough of a groundswell to convince potential opponents like Councilman Bill Green, City Controller Alan Butkovitz or businessmen Tom Knox and Sam Katz to plunge into the race.

Nutter not only has managed a virtually unopposed second term by skillfully walking the political minefields, but also he has done many things well.

Notably, he has set a proper ethical tone for the city, generally being out front, not defensive, when an issue arose. When his representative to the School Reform Commission, Robert Archie, became embroiled in an ethics issue, Nutter ordered his ethics czar to conduct an investigation that ultimately led to Archie's resignation.

Nutter has been an excellent spokesman for urban America, often appearing on national television news programs. He is on track to become the next leader of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which will guarantee him even more national face time. And that's good for Philadelphia - he is an articulate representative on the national scene for our city.

Faced with a woeful global economy that has robbed the city of revenues, Nutter has managed the choppy shoals reasonably well, though in his first budget he was tardy in coming to grips with the economic calamity facing the nation. Yes, he raised taxes, and there are those who believe that he should have ordered wholesale layoffs. Those are issues worthy of debate; unfortunately, there has been no one to debate him.

Nutter's major first-term failure has been on education. He tried to have his cake and eat it, too. He protested that he did not legally control the school district or its Superintendent, Dr. Arlene Ackerman, yet basked in the spotlight at press conferences with her by his side, announcing improved test scores.

Only after Ackerman publicly undercut the mayor over the funding of kindergarten did a stung Nutter act. He engineered her removal, stuffing her purse with $900,000 in good-riddance money, but by that time the damage was done-the district was awash in unprecedented red ink, scandals and melodrama.

If there is a metaphor to best describe the mayor's first term, it can be found in the city's 3-1-1 customer-service system, which was much heralded when it was launched by the administration. But studies by the Pew Foundation and Controller Butkovitz, and experience by users, show it isn't all it was cracked up to be. But it's not too late to improve 3-1-1 for it to live up to its promise.

And the same can be said for Michael Nutter, now that he's about to safely secure another four years in City Hall.