Michael Nutter Earned My Vote; Chaka Fattah Behaved Disgracefully.
Last night, I watched NBC 10’s Mayoral Forum, and by the end a few things were clear. Number one, as much as I like Tom Knox and think he’d be a good Mayor, my gut tells me that Michael Nutter is the best candidate for the job. While I am troubled by the “Stop and Frisk” component of his crime plan (especially the implications for civil rights, due process, and the potential for lawsuits), I am impressed with his ideas for desperately needed re-entry programs (warning, pdf):
I will invest in a real prisoner reentry program that builds meaningful attachments between
former prisoners and employers.
We also need to support the adults who re-enter the community after prison. Recent research by
the National Academy of Science demonstrates that employment is the strongest predictor of whether an
adult ex-prisoner will return to prison. Yet, finding and keeping a job can be a nearly impossible challenge
for many ex-prisoners. Philadelphia is the birthplace of another widely heralded program, this one geared
toward helping adults make the transition to employment, often for the very first time.Philadelphia’s Transitional Works Corporation (TWC) is a leader in the transitional jobs field.
Transitional jobs help participants establish a work history, build skills and good work habits, and develop
confidence in their abilities. Founded in 1998, TWC’s main program focus has been working with
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients who have been receiving assistance for at
least twenty-four months. This population faces many barriers similar to those faced by ex- prisoners:
substance abuse, mental illness and depression, poor physical health, low skill levels, low educational
attainment, and minimal work histories. As an extension of the national prisoner re-entry program known
as Ready4Work, transitional jobs can significantly reduce recidivism among participants.17
This is an essential step in breaking the cycle of repeat offenders that plague our most vulnerable
neighborhoods. By adapting the transitional work model, we can immunize employers from some of the
risks and costs associated with hiring ex-prisoners with little or no work history while at the same time
providing ex-prisoners with immediate and rewarding employment in real jobs.
In the first year of my administration, I will create job opportunities for at least 500 former
prisoners through this program. The cost of this will be approximately $3 million. Possible funding
sources include federal and state workforce development funds and private foundation grants, in addition to
the City’s general fund.
As I’ve said before, I like Nutter’s transit plan as well. I like what he has to say about public schools. And while I may have some personality issues with the man, who sometimes comes off as abrasive and more than a little cocksure, I will attest to the fact that Michael Nutter listens as well. The first time he came to Drinking Liberally was a few weeks after our clash at the Irish Pub over transit. He sat right next to me, and we spoke for about a half-hour about our disagreements. The second time he came back, months later, he had more to add to our previous conversation: that was impressive. I brought up his cheap shot at Fattah for signing the deal with Venezuela to provide inexpensive fuel oil to Philadelphia’s poor, and he asked me to call his office about the issue.
Furthermore, at every debate I have seen, Nutter is one of the only candidates not speaking in catchphrases and slogans (the same reason I like Knox), and every time I watch him speak, I like him more. While I have reservations about some of his ideas, I will not allow the perfect to stand in the way of the good: I plan to vote for Michael Nutter for Mayor.
One person I will certainly not be supporting is Chaka Fattah, who behaved absolutely disgracefully at last night’s forum.
The candidates were piling on Mr. Nutter’s crime plan, arguing strongly against the “stop-and-frisk” component. Dwight Evans and Bob Brady correctly noted that stop-and-frisk is a violation of civil rights, with Brady quite astutely pointing out that the cops wouldn’t go along with this because it would leave them vulnerable to lawsuits for violations of due process. All of them accused Nutter of racial profiling.
Now, Nutter’s plan is almost certainly a violation of civil rights. It is certainly a step toward a police state. But one thing the plan is not is an example of racial profiling, as Nutter pointed out saying that he was after anyone, black, white, asian, what-have-you, who was carrying an illegal weapon. “It’s not about race, it’s about criminals,” he said, adding that the majority of violent crime victims in Philadelphia are black. Nutter added, “As a person who’s been black for 49 years, I think I know a little bit about racial profiling.”
Chaka Fattah, who is running behind Mr. Nutter largely because he hasn’t run a very good campaign, was clearly getting desperate and lobbed an uncalled for and disgraceful attack on Mr. Nutter. He all but accused the candidate of being a self-hating black man and said, “I’m sorry the councilman has to remind himself he’s an African American.” When called on this bit of demagoguery, Fattah tried to say that Nutter was injecting race into the campaign by bringing up the crime statistics. This is not true: what Fattah was engaged in was a last-ditch effort to portray Mr. Nutter as some sort of race traitor.
It is not “playing the race card” to say that the majority of shooting victims in Philadelphia are black if the statement is accurate.
It IS “playing the race card” to suggest that one of the candidates has “to remind himself” he’s African American when the issue is what to do about crime, and the attacker doesn’t have much of a plan. I was ugly, it was egregious, and it made me really really angry because my intelligence was being insulted. I won’t vote for Fattah for Mayor, and this has seriously colored my view of the Representative as a human being. No one is entitled to be Mayor, yet that is how Fattah’s entire campaign has come across. And last night on TV, I realized why: it is because Fattah himself feels entitled to the job. And that is why Fattah lost my vote.
I’m apparently not the only one who thinks Fattah’s behavior was disgraceful. A sampling:
sj:
Fattah was extremely aggressive tonight and he sounded deperate. HIs was 100% focused on attacking Nutter regardless of the question. Did I hear him say “I’m glad Michael knows he’s black”? That is really unprofessional and a disgrace. He spent a lot of time attacking Nutter’s crime plan but he has no crime plan.
Posted by sj | May 7, 2007 8:06 PM
Anonymous:That was the lowest I’ve ever seen Fattah go. Shameful.
Posted by Anonymous | May 7, 2007 8:14 PM
sj:I just find it so ironic that Fattah is so anto Stop and Frisk when its mentioned in his position paper on crime. I cannot believe Nutter didnt fire back with that tidbit.
Posted by sj | May 7, 2007 8:16 PM
sj:Fattah was looking very desperate up there, he really couldnt take the heat of Matthews challenging him on some answers or asking to him to shut up. He was like a spoiled kid up there who didnt like being told to follow the rules. I think Evans/Nutter did a good job of shutting down his airport lease pipe dream. He had little to back up his claims that it can be done easily or quickly. He is basically saying “trust me, I’ll make it happen even though there is no precedent”. Now it seems like his new pitch is “elect me because I like black people way more than Nutter”. His entire campaign has been weak and predicated on one proposal and now he is going completely negative after saying he would never have any criticism of his competitors.
Posted by sj | May 7, 2007 8:20 PM
jordon:i agree with sj; fattah crossed the line with that comment. pretty lame.
nutter, for his part, remained about as composed when someone calls you a self-hating black. i think he wisely realizes that, even though fattah clearly will do anything to become mayor, even slander his opponents, nutter doesn’t want to burn those bridges because, if he becomes mayor, he’s going to have to ask fattah for money in washington.
that said, evans was the clear victor in the debate. chris matthews actually gave him a chance to speak his mind about issues, and his critiques of nutter’s stop-and-frisk plan and fattah’s lease proposal were worthwhile. nutter spent most of the time defending dumb scenarios by the bully chris matthews.
uh, and let’s just forget that embarassing spat between brady and knox ever happened. they looked like a political cartoon satirizing tensions between big business and the political machine.
on the whole, i was mightily disappointed with this debate. it was rude and vulgar of the crowd to shower candidates with applause–seemed suspiciously pro-brady. there was way too much time devoted to crime and not enough about the economy, education, and transportation.
so evans really impressed me tonight. but for me, it’s still…
nutter ‘08
Posted by jordon | May 7, 2007 8:21 PM
phillyc:Wow, Fattah was shameless, shilling his stupid “I paid people to give me their extra guns so I could brag about it on TV” plan when CM asked a legitimate question about a possible real situation. Idiot. Matthews actually helped show that Nutter is the only one with a real crime plan and that it has nothing to do with racial profiling.
Thank you, Dwight, for finally saying what everyone knows, that Fattah’s airport plan is “half-baked” and bless you, Chris Matthews, for showing up Bob Brady’s only qualification as mayor is that “I know everyone.”
I used to just think we needed Fattah not to be Mayor. Now I think we need to get him out of Congress, too. “We’re all done with that tax cutting thing now.” Way to get the people on your side, idiot.
Posted by phillyc | May 7, 2007 8:22 PM
Michael Nutter for Mayor.
May 9th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Welcome to the Club, Brendan. Similar to you, I have had the opportunity to not just read about, but to meet, the candidates. I will be proud to call Nutter my Mayor.
I hope that Knox maintains his enthusiasm and stays involved in making life better for Philadelphians. Unfortunately, his deal with Blackwell tells me regardless of how clean he was coming into the race – he sells out pretty fast.