For months now, I have been trying to figure out how to tell the world who Michael Nutter is, or what he represents, or why he is so important at this juncture in our city’s history. Part of the reason I could never start was because it was so incredibly complicated to explain.

When I talked to folks outside of politics I found that they had never heard of Michael Nutter. A congressperson (since we have two in the race) represents on average 647,000 voters; a city councilman in Philadelphia has only about 100,000 constituents, which makes it a lot harder to run for mayor.

I kept tripping up when I talked to people. I never knew how to tell his story.
Part of the problem with telling Michael’s story is that in order to understand how great of a gift he was already been to this city, one must see clearly the way that power is organized and used - how limited is the vision of most of those that have power – how stifling is the system to change and innovation and even humanity towards ordinary people - and how difficult it is, in an environment of control, fealty, and fear, to stand up and advocate for radical changes that might endanger those at whose grace you serve, and therefore, your own career.

Former City Councilman Michael Nutter stands alone in Philly political history as someone who successfully navigated the waters of the party for 16 years while standing up for what was right, again and again, even if it were his own political life on the line. He has shown courage, and determination, and a willingness to go farther than anyone else in order to force City Hall to pay attention to the people it is charged with serving.

In his service on council, Michael Nutter consistently fought for the best interests of all Philadelphians, as opposed to the few. He looked at the task of government the city as a duty, not just a paycheck. He authorized the first, ground-breaking anti-corruption legislation in the city’s history, so that the city can open itself up to growth, new ideas, and a city workforce that does not contain the same 5 last names - while being a popular ward leader and maintaining good relationships within the party at the same time. He redeveloped the blighted parts of his district while authoring citywide legislation – all against the will of the most corrupt city government in America, that fought him every step of the way.

This, my friends, is the balancing act of a lifetime.

And he did it with such talent. Such unbelievable reserves. Such a tremendous amount of hope for what this city could be, and do, what he would be able to do for it, given the opportunity and the vision. A normal person would have probably cowed or given in or given up. But Mike Nutter seems to have in him some absolutely indestructible supernaturally solid titanium container of hope, that can’t be burned, chopped apart, or worn down by the slow grind of human life, the frustration of political compromise, or the despair of watching the city you love slowly sink into a quagmire of inertia, poverty, and drug-based, violent death.

For a city with no expectation that things will ever be different – that the Phillies might ever win - that the Navy Yard might reopen as a port – someone like Michael Nutter almost comes across as a genetic mutation. Not only does he have hope – he knows he has to keep going, even when people can’t be bothered, because it's the only thing he can do. He has no choice.

The skepticism has had no end.
...How did this guy get here?
...Why does he believe in us? Is he crazy?
...What’s his angle? What does he want?
He must want something.
He must want to get rich or something.
All politicians are the same.

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The answer is...this one is different.
If you want to, you can get very rich off of being in government.
Mike Nutter drives an Acura and sends his daughter to public school. No interest there.

So what does he want?

I sincerely believe that Michael Nutter wants the city of Philadelphia to be a thriving place where no one lacks for resources, lives in fear, lives a life without opportunity or hope, or finds themselves alone.

I know that other candidates want the same thing. So does our current mayor. We're all Democrats. We're all liberals. Do a poll. We all want the same things.

The difference between Michael Nutter and everyone else is that he figured out why these things are not happening. Why so little has changed for years and years. Why so little has changed despite the fact that we all want jobs and education and an end to the killing and so on...

Michael Nutter figured out that city hall cannot be the tool of change unless it, as a tool, actually works. And right now, the way things are set up, our city government is completely powerless to take any bold action on any of our massive, sweltering, nasty social problems. Right now, it's just a bunch of people fighting over a few hundred jobs and their pensions. It's not a functioning government at all. Every once in a while, to appease a reporter, they do something almost lucidrously impotent, like ban trans fats. That's the silly stuff, but the problem is when you get to truly disturbing moments like the housing agency reorg battle. (We have a lot of different housing agencies, and a lot of different people want to merge them or change them.) This is a major issue in Philadelphia, that needs serious interest, but instead of actually looking out for the people who need affordable housing, pols just fought over whose fiefdom was going to lose jobs.

This was Michael Nutter's workplace. For 16 years.

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(to be continued)