Raise your hand if two years ago you knew that Philadelphia had an Inspector General. Yeah, me neither. The reality is that it was a toothless office, that only made the news when it turned out the IG himself was violating City law. Now, raise your hands if you know we have an Inspector General today? I mean, it was a centerpiece in mayoral TV commercials last year, we see that Seth Williams dude in the news going after corruption, something must have changed, right?
As has been reported over at Heard in Hall, Mike Nutter is going to name an IG today, not named Seth Williams. I am sure it will be someone qualified and all that. Now Seth can run for DA, and probably wouldn’t have served a full term, and Nutter needs a fresh start and 'his team' and blah blah blah.
Anyway, the thing that I appreciate about Seth is that while he is clearly a smart, successful guy (and had detailed plans for how he wanted to reform the IG office), he is unpretentious and strange enough to dress up like a Rastafarian on Halloween and bring his kids trick or treating in the Burbs to catch someone violating the law. He was a dynamic voice for rooting our corruption, which was an unquestionably good thing for the City. Just like his campaign for DA will be about envisioning real change in the City's criminal-justice system.
We will have more soon. But, to my buddy Seth Williams: You took an office that did absolutely nothing, and turned it into something very real and good for the City. Get to work on those plans for the DA’s office, start raising money, and get ready to wear out the tread on your shoes. We will be there with you.
Nutter liked at least one of Seth's ideas...
Anyone noticed Nutter's new slogan?
It used to be "A Vision for Philadelphia." Now it is:
Does this remind anyone of another familiar slogan?
I am not volunteering for
I am not volunteering for the DA campaign until he ditches the yellow.
Yeah, and what's up with all
Yeah, and what's up with all those italics?????
Is there photographic evidence?
I would pay good money for a photo of Seth Williams dressed in Rastafarian garb.
It is a shame, but I can't wait for Seth the DA
Here's the info on the new appointments, from the Next Mayor blog:
I also hope
I also hope that our new mayor has the sense to put Seth to good use until then, as he is a real asset to the city and just the sort of person that the new mayor should be embracing with the new administration.
Well...
... if Nutter isn't planning on supporting Williams' DA run, Nutter may not want to put him to good use in a way that raises his public service profile.
No question
There are some more troubling aspects to this whole thing, especially for some progressives who assumed Nutter would sort of try and incubate smart, young progressive politicians.
I wouldn't necessarily destroy Nutter over this
This may be a tough spot for him. It seems that even in the best case scenario, Nutter is going to piss off a lot of people in the next year. It's not like he has a lot of true-blue political "friends" as it is. (This community, for one, doesn't have an overwhelming amount of sweat equity built into him.) How much warfare can he afford?
So Nutter sees Dan McCaffery plotting a run, one which would likely be backed by an assortment of party heavy hitters for whom Nutter can't afford to be a complete bullseye. And he may have decided not to pick the opposing side, at least not this early. Maybe a progressive movement can deliver for Williams in '09, but if you were Nutter, would you gamble on that today?
Destroying? This is the
Destroying? This is the most polite I have been when someone did something to piss me off in years!
I didn't think you were harsh.
I can see how my response gave the wrong impression.
What if Seth didn't want to stay?
Do you know for a fact that Seth wanted to remain as IG? If he is serious about DA in 2009, he needs to start raising real money, which would certainly raise some eyebrows if he was doing that as IG.
Clearly, he would not have been able to make a long-term commitment to remain in the position (he alludes to that in his statement). Based upon that, I don't think this is a bad decision on Nutter's part, nor do I think it indicates that Nutter won't "try and incubate smart, young progressive politicians."
I think Seth has done a great job, but it is probably an opportune time for him to move on and start gearing up for a campaign.
God help us all
A year and a half until the next big city primary. And a presidential election in between.
--Tim (aka Short Schrift)
I have a pretty good
I have a pretty good inkling.
I also have a pretty good idea that our IG, after seeing the operation for the past year and a half, had some pretty detailed ways to really get the office going. And, by the way, it is not like I think this is unique to Nutter. This was a huge insider-ish criticism of Street when he came into office. He wanted to have his team, and so he forced out, scared away and otherwise made feel unwelcome a lot of really talented people.
Do I think it will mean the IG will all of a sudden go back to its pre-Seth days? No way. I do think that it would have been wise to let him see the job of changing the office through.
I do agree that it might be a good thing that he is now free to make a run for an office where we desperately need him, and where ol Lynne Abraham is desperately trying to keep him out of.
I agree . . .
He can't fundraise with a city job.
Money with a potential open seat will be important for his campaign. I wouldn't say this is a bad thing for Seth.
I am working to elect Larry Farnese to the General Assembly. Unless otherwise expressly stated, this and every comment or blog I post on YPP and any action I take hereon is solely attributable to me and not Farnese or Friends of Farnese
Nutter's "ethics team"
Dan,
Like you, I have a get deal of respect for Seth Williams and intend to vote for him in 2009. However, I don’t see today’s appointments as a sign that Nutter will not “incubate smart, young progressive politicians.”
One of the reasons I strongly supported Michael Nutter was I was convinced he would open up the political process and provide opportunities for talented young progressives.
Another reason I voted for him is that I was confident he would do whatever possible to clean up City Hall.
Honest, responsive government will provide the political space that will enable young progressives to become elected officials. Nutter has appointed a team which will seriously tackle the political corruption which has kept so many talented people out of public life.
His ethics team is impressive; also, I am very happy to see that Nutter is appointing strong women to positions of power in his administration. I (and other feminist friends) were starting to get a little uneasy. When were we going to see well-qualified women appointed? Well, we saw that today.
I hear you
However, I strongly disagree. The way I see it is this
was not helped today. Because my take is that he just short circuited the guy who could have partnered with him in moving the IG's office to the next level, but instead he brought in someone new because, as he said, he wants his own people. I think that is a bad move, and the City would have been better served to reappoint Seth, period.
Except
Karen's point about gender is big. This was a dramatic moment for me today: all those strong woman appointees. It means a lot.
This has been an ongoing conversation that has sort of scooted under the radar, but I think that we will get a better gender balance in politics and city government through a series of chain reactions. The first step in that is leveraging women into positions where they have the power to pull up other women, through hiring or advisory positions, or just networks of influence.
However, I hope that 'looking italian' is wrong, and that Nutter does intend to support Seth as he runs for DA, and recognizes and utilizes all that he has to contribute to the city. There are a certainly concerns that need to be counterbalanced in the specific decision about the IG's office, but it is completely clear that Seth should have a strong place in the new administration: he is exactly the type of public figure that we have been hoping Michael Nutter would bring more of into city government.
Another except
Sure, every decision is not going to be pitch perfect. And I am sure Nutter WILL incubate some great, progressive, clean, politicians.
But this reeks of wanting to do things his way above all.
Everything you list, all the things that you looked towards Michael Nutter for: he had them in Seth's IG office. He could not have had someone better poised to carry out that cleaning up of government. This should have been Seth's moment to be in the administration of someone with a really sympathetic vision for what the IG's office could be.
And, whatever other good moves Nutter makes, failing to embrace Seth is not one of them.
Yeah. There are a lot of
Yeah. There are a lot of positives to Nutter's appointments so far, and it is refreshing to have a politician devote a day to introducing an ethics team. I am sure Seth's replacement will do a good job. Still doesnt mean this was the right move.
Once I interned at HUD in DC
It was my only real experience working in a bureaucracy. I distinctly remember that over a short period the organization had a few appointees come and go (including Andrew Cuomo) and there was very real sense of a lack of leadership and low morale in the agency. I'm sure that Seth would be a great IG but I kind of understand that just as the unions negotiations are winding down in the next year or so and Nutter starts with some next steps, having someone leave the IG office (or any other) might cause momentum to be lost. I won't be surprised if this is something Nutter thought a lot about. I really hoping that these folks he is bringing in will be here for four or eight years--the good ones at least.
--Mike
Weeds in the Sidewalk