Nutter to review late appointments made by Street
They are the spots that John Street filled with late appointments, including a son. The new mayor plans a look at all of Street's picks.
Mayor Nutter is planning to review all previous mayoral appointments to city boards, commissions and authorities, including seven made in the waning days of the Street administration.
Among the last-minute appointees was John Street's son Sharif, whom his father named to an unpaid position on the 31-member commission reviewing the city's zoning code.
As a real estate lawyer at Wolf Block, Sharif Street has relevant professional experience for the Zoning Code Commission. Still, Nutter clearly had expected to make the pick, and the nature and timing of his predecessor's move left some questioning the appointment.
"Sharif is a very smart guy and clearly has experience in this field, and if Michael Nutter had appointed Sharif, I would have no concern," said Zack Stalberg, president and chief executive officer of the Committee of Seventy, a government watchdog group. "But I wouldn't put my kid in a job, and I don't think Mayor Street should have."
Sharif Street confirmed his appointment Monday, but did not return phone messages later in the week seeking further comment. His father did not respond to an e-mail request for comment or attempts to reach him through a former aide.
John Street's other appointments to the Zoning Code Commission were labor leader Pat Gillespie, historical preservationist John Gallery, developer Bill Wilson, and Patricia Smith, a former director of Street's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative.
Before leaving office, Street also filled two spots on the board of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority with public-housing activist Asia Coney and Roxanne Covington, a former city attorney who is on the city's Human Relations Commission.
"Roxanne Covington and Asia Coney are eminently qualified to serve on the RDA board," said Frank Keel, a spokesman for the authority. "It shouldn't matter who appointed them."
Like them or not, Nutter appears to have no authority to replace Covington or Coney. The Redevelopment Authority is a creation of state law, and the courts have held that a new mayor cannot oust an old mayor's picks without just cause.
The same holds true for the Philadelphia Housing Authority, which Street quietly reappointed himself to about six months ago.
Nutter press secretary Doug Oliver acknowledged that "unique provisions" would prevent Nutter from putting his own representatives on some boards.
"But the overwhelming majority of them serve at the pleasure of the mayor," Oliver said, "and there will be a complete review of all boards and commissions, including those where last-minute appointments were made."
The Zoning Code Commission appears to be one for which Nutter is free to pick his own representatives. It was created by City Council, not the legislature, and members are not appointed to fixed terms.
Oliver said the administration did not have a timetable for its review of mayoral appointees.