Web Letters: Nutter Wins in Philadelphia

By Patrick Mulvaney

May 17, 2007

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With several omissions, "Nutter Wins in Philadelphia" casts a much more negative light on Michael Nutter, Philadelphia's Democratic nominee for mayor, than he deserves.

In highlighting Nutter's support for a "stop and frisk" policy to deter gun violence, the article fails to mention that two of Nutter's opponents--including the disingenuous Chaka Fattah--published policy papers advocating the same position. The article also did not mention Nutter's long commitment to civilian review of police matters, as demonstrated by his leadership in writing and winning passage of a bill (against the wishes of then-Mayor Ed Rendell) establishing a Police Advisory Commission for the city way back in the mid-1990s. Finally, the article does not mention that for such a heavily contested primary in Philadelphia, Nutter's appeal across racial lines was nothing short of historic. Voting returns indicate that Nutter likely won the most votes among both black voters and white voters.

Philadelphians of all backgrounds are proud and excited to have elected such a reform-minded, independent candidate to lead our great city. I encourage progressives who read The Nation to be proud and excited for us, too.

Patrick Egan

Philadelphia, PA
06/06/2007 @ 7:06pm
First, the proposed gun-control bills are next to totally useless against the problems that we face. The problem is in such things as overvaluing "bling," games like Grand Theft Auto and public wearing of T-shirts that say "No Snitching (to the police)". These cultural points are the overewhelming problem.

Second, Nutter, in his fourteen years on council has consistently stood for clean, honest, and efficient government, which is why the machine pols froze him out. The City's budget problems are daunting, in that to avoid bankruptcy in the near future, it is likely to have to resort to unpalatable things like very high transit fare hikes. Pensions and employee/retiree health care are eating up money that is desperately needed for things like schools.

We'll see! Nutter got 37.2 percent among black voters and 37.1 percent among white voters in an election in which all five candidates support crossed racial lines, which is radically different from past experience.

John D. Froelich

Upper Darby, PA
05/17/2007 @ 10:45pm

Web Letters: Nutter Wins in Philadelphia

By Patrick Mulvaney

May 17, 2007

Philadelphia, PA

Upper Darby, PA

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