Despite PGW Defeat, Nutter Rejects "Lame Duck" Label
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The failure of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter's ambitious plan to sell PGW marks a new low in relations between Nutter and members of City Council. But the mayor insists he'll be able to get things done in 2015, his final year in office, and rejects the label "lame duck."
After the final nail went into the coffin of the PGW sale proposal last week, Mayor Nutter and Council President Darrell Clarke issued blistering statements critical of one another, with rhetoric that raised eyebrows of even veteran political observers. That does not bode well for the final year of Nutter's second term and his ability to gain Council support for his agenda. Yet Nutter insists 2015 will be productive for his Administration, including in its dealings with council.
"I would expect you'll continue to see great things coming from the city, certainly from the Administration, and working in partnership in many, many instances with the City Council," Nutter said. "We have a lot of stuff to do. The term is the term, and it doesn't come to an end for over a year. We have, I have, a lot things to do. We're not in any way, shape or form slowing down. We're actually speeding up."
And Nutter adamantly rejects the label of 'lame duck.'
"I never used that word with anyone," said the mayor. "And I just think that its quite frankly inappropriate. When you dedicate your life to public you still are constantly working to get things done."
But as council adjourns its 2014 session on Thursday, the gap between the Mayor's office on the second floor of City Hall and Council chambers on the fourth floor has never seemed wider.
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