Well, Philadelphia finally has a mayor worthy of itself. It's been a while. I want to take up this space and opportunity to congratulate and praise Mayor Michael Nutter.

I briefly met our new mayor in 1994, when I was an aide to 1st District Councilman Joe Vignola. If I remember correctly, the 4th District office was sandwiched between the 1st and Blackwell's district. But it wasn't until some time later, when I was attending a 21st Ward Community Council dinner, that I started to like Michael Nutter. I was invited to speak before the 21st Ward.

I was 25 and nervous as hell and I think it showed that night. When I was finished, Michael was kind enough to shoot me a complement and make a joke that helped ease my anxiety. Over the course of my years with the Human Relations Commission, I'd work with his office often in Roxborough, Manayunk and East Falls.

Whether it was dead frogs in the canal, drunkards on Main Street, or fights at Roxborough High, Nutter and his office were always there and a tremendous help. Because of the problems with the bars, we ended up attending lots of Manayunk meetings together and I remember how impressed everyone was when he'd take little Olivia with him and she'd quietly sit in the front row while her dad spoke.

I always sensed a real fighter beyond the wonkish shell in "Mr. Mayor", the tag I jokingly started calling him about a year ago whenever I'd see him on the trail. In 2006, when I invited him to sit around my dining room table with Philebrity's Joey Sweeney and I to tape a podcast on ethics reform in Philadelphia, he was more than happy to attend, though he wasn't shy about disagreeing with some of my ideas on nepotism and outside employment.

When he quit his job to run for Mayor, I invited him to an annual party hosted by Bella Vista United. He was one of the many mayoral hopefuls that were there that night, but he was the only one who helped me close the place. Sitting over a good bottle of Cab Sav with a mutual friend, I decided to seek his advice and counsel about running for office against a very popular incumbent. Ya see, Michael knew something about that. He had run against Anne Land once and lost before coming back and winning in their second match-up. He cautioned me about taking someone on so popular, reminded me that few folks win the first time their name appears on the ballot and suggested I go knock on about 10,000 doors if I wanted to have even the slightest chance. It was some of the best political advice I was given.

Towards the second half of the conversation, I asked him: are you REALLY in this race to win it? I mean, what if Bob Brady gets in? Don't you think Saidel is just too popular? What if Fattah gets in? These guys have huge bases. Lots of money. Reliable machines. At that point, he dipped his head down and stared at me over the tops of his eyeglasses and said "I quit my job. I've put it all on the line. No matter who gets in. No matter what happens. I'm in it to win." He was as serious as a heart attack and at that point I knew, this guy was the real deal.

A couple months later, my wife and I attended a Shame of the City fundraiser for Nutter at the Prince Theatre. After watching the movie for the first time, I realized that, with one exception, of all the candidates running for Mayor in 2007, he was the only one not willing to spin the Ashcroft/Bush nonsense that appealed to the lowest common denominator in 2003. I believed then, as I do now, that unlike many of the politicos that appeared in that movie, he thought better of the people of Philadelphia. He honestly thinks we're smarter than the other guys make us out to be. He has respect and high regard for the general citizenry. What a nice change of pace.

And then there was the one night in Northern Liberties, where several candidates were lined up to speak before the Neighborhood Association. It was a difficult week for me on a personal level due to some changes in the campaign and by this time, those changes were common knowledge. Michael walked across the room to see how I was doing, and asked if I was okay. Here's a man fighting for his political life and he's asking me -- a little known and relatively unimportant district council candidate -- how I'm doing.

About two weeks before the May primary, my camp got a call from Tom Knox's folks. They wanted to endorse our campaign. I responded to my campaign co-worker with three questions: 1. Does it come with money? (It didn't) 2. Will I be expected to cross endorse (I wasn't) and 3. Could you get Michael Nutter on the phone? (He did)

Politicians have huge egos. So, when I told Michael that Knox wanted to endorse me and I wanted to check with him before calling Knox back, I figured he might ask me to decline the endorsement. After all, Knox and Nutter were neck and neck in the polls. Some would have sought to hurt an opponent (even just in the slightest) by being that petty. Michael didn't. He was, as always, fair, reasonable and respectful. Little did I know that the very next day, Knox would also endorse Blackwell for Council President and, in my opinion, lose the election with one single press conference.

So by now, in the last few weeks of the campaign, I really believed Mike Nutter was a different kind of politician. By the time the LGBT commuinty held their big festival on Market Street in Old City, I found myself helping my neighbor Rue Landau at the Nutter for Mayor table. She would make the pitch and I would try to close the deal with "I was endorsed by Tom Knox but I'm still voting for Mike Nutter". It was actually pretty funny.

On primary Election Day, it was an honor to carry Mike Nutter's name on our ballots in the 5th and 2nd wards. And it was a real pleasure to cast my vote for him yesterday.

I'm glad Dan said it first because I didn't want to sound too corny. My son's favorite toy is his remote control Spiderman, who reminds us that "with great power comes great repsonsibility." Let's give our new Mayor all the help he deserves in taking this town back from the crime, corruption and regression that has plagued it for far too long.

Kudos, Mr. Mayor. We're with you every step of the way.