Philadelphia Gets New Health Commissioner
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- After a national search, Mayor Jim Kenney has chosen a new Health Commissioner for Philadelphia. He's known for sometimes controversial public health crusades.
Former New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley is the doctor behind an anti-smoking campaign, there, that drew a first amendment lawsuit, and a soda ban proposal that attracted critics from both the right, who accused him of "nanny state" tactics, and the left, because he sought to bar the use of food stamps for soda.
"I don't seek out controversy but I'm very clear with the sort of things I think we should do, all together, to improve everyone's health."
Farley's "out-of-the-box" approach appealed to Kenney, and his experience.
Farley led some 6,000 employees in a department with a budget of $1.5 billion.
The mayor has yet to appoint a human services or fire commissioner, also the subjects of national searches.