The value in stupendous political failure

Sept. 9, 2007
By Tom Ferrick Jr.
For The Inquirer

I see that Philadelphia’s soon-to-be mayor, Michael Nutter, has spent part of his summer doing a “Best Practices Tour.”

Visiting Baltimore to see how it has used its nifty 311 call system. Lunching with Mayor Bloomberg in New York to get tips on leadership. Learning first hand from Mayor Daley the value of dynastic rule.

A lot can be learned through face time with successful leaders. Besides, the guy’s unemployed. He needs something to fill his days.
Speaking personally, though, I rarely learn valuable life lessons from success. It’s the mistakes that make an imprint on me — whether they be my own or others’.

For instance, just recently I learned that when one uses a public restroom one should not try to peek into another's stall, tap your feet until you touch your neighbor’s shoe, or run your hand under the stall divider. Definitely not a “Best Practice.”

This inspires me to make a suggestion that has nothing to do with the men's room.

I would like to volunteer to arrange a “Worst Practices Tour” for Nutter. (And, OK, his Republican opponent, Al Taubenberger, can come, too.) We could explore strategies, policies and actions that one should never, under any circumstances, try to replicate, imitate or follow.
The good thing about it: It would be cheap. A meal here. A cab there. But what valuable lessons we could learn.

Stop No. 1. Lunch with Mayor John Street. Topic: Effective Public Relations Strategies.
Of course, Nutter, who is close to the mayor — in an odd sort of way — has observed this first hand. But, it would be interesting to hear Street’s insights into how he managed to dig a hole so deep that he has gotten to a permanent state of lose-lose with the
media.

Best example: Earlier this summer, when the mayor wanted one of the new, much-in-demand iPhones. If he had pulled some strings and called up Apple and said “I’d like an iPhone,” they probably would have sent him one. And he’d be criticized for receiving special favors.

Instead, he got in line with the hoi polloi and waited for the grand moment to arrive when he could buy one at the counter. And what happens? He was criticized for frittering away his time, whilst murderers roam loose in the city.

It was sad to see the guy roughed up for, essentially, doing the right thing. And I speak as someone who has done his share of roughing up the mayor.

There is a lesson to be learned in how he got to this stage.

Stop No. 2. Another lunch, this time with ex-confidantes of Mayor Frank Rizzo. Topic: Political Expediency as Social Policy.

If I had to pinpoint when the city's future was harmed the most by direct government action, it came in the mid-1970s, when Mayor Rizzo took two actions:

Faced with a tough reelection campaign in 1975, in need of all the political support he could get, Rizzo entered into sweetheart contracts with city and school district employees, granting work rule concessions, in addition to generous wage and benefits increases.

This happened while the city was hemorrhaging jobs and residents.

The bleeding got worse in 1976 when the bill came due. The Rizzo administration enacted a series of tax increases, including — hold on for this one — raising the wage tax from 3.1 percent to 4.3 percent. Ouch.

In a moment when the city should have been taking every step possible to preserve and protect its tax base, it decided to chase people out of town — not to mention declare war on suburban residents who work in the city.

These were not evil men who made these decisions. They were trying their best to deal with the situation they helped to create.

It would be interesting to hear their take — 35 years later — on why they did it, and how it could have been avoided.

The next mayor is going to have to deal with the same issues in his first year, as contracts with municipal unions expire.

Stop No. 3. This will require a trip on US Airways. Destination: Ayer, Mass. Topic: Ethics in Theory and Practice.

In Ayer we will visit the federal prison facility that currently serves as home to Corey Kemp, the former city treasurer. Lunch may be a non-starter, but maybe we could take a walk in the yard.

The Kemp case is a story of personal failing: a bright young man, under the sway of wheeler-dealer Ron White, who goes astray.

But, there is larger question he might answer: What steps could the people above him have taken to make it clear that such wheeling-dealing was wrong and would not be tolerated?

What can a mayor do, personally and through policy, to make sure it doesn't happen again?

So concludes my tour, though I am open to suggestions of additional stops.