Kenney, Anticipating Likely November Victory, Begins Work on Hiring
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Democratic mayoral nominee Jim Kenney says he'll hunker down with Mayor Nutter next week to review Nutter administration staffers whom Kenney might want to stay on if Kenney, as expected, wins the general eleciton in November.
Kenney says he's not taking a victory in the mayoral race for granted, but he does plan to meet with Mayor Nutter shortly about personnel.
"I'm going to meet with the mayor next week, to kind of go through their org (organizational) chart," Kenney told KYW Newsradio today, "and we'll start talking about who might want to stay, who might not want to. He's just going to go over all of his people."
Staffing an administration is no easy task. Mayor Nutter, when first elected in 2007, made a point of looking nationwide to fill some cabinet-level positions. Kenney, for his part, isn't ruling that out either.
"I'm not precluding any possibility," Kenney said. "Certainly there are people who exist in the government now who have done a wonderful, admirable job. There are people within the city who are eminently qualified, and there's probably people around the country who are qualified. We'll look at every source."
Kenney has already said he hopes to retain police commissioner Charles Ramsey and inspector general Amy Kurland. He says he admires the mayor's L&I commissioner, Carlton Williams, and will talk to him about possible roles in a Kenney administration.
Meantime, Kenney admits, the unsolicited résumés are piling up. "We have them in a pile -- we'll figure it out," he said, adding that his phone is ringing from potential jobseekers.
"A lot of people want to chat. They need a minute to chat. It's fine. It comes with the territory," he noted.
