Nutter's victory is at great expense to him

After a protracted and exhausting battle, Mayor Nutter finally has his budget, and a victory.

But his triumph comes at an enormous cost. The mayor's agenda has stalled. His image as a champion of change is in question. And his political future appears far less certain than it was when he was elected by a wide margin 22 months ago.

With yesterday's Senate vote approving Philadelphia's $700 million relief package, Nutter at least is now free to resume his mayoral priorities - beginning with renewing expired contracts with the city's four municipal unions - but he does so from a weaker position than when the budget crisis began one year ago.

"He comes out of this with some damage," said Democratic State Rep. Robert Donatucci, who was first elected in 1980 and who represents parts of Southwest Philadelphia and Delaware County.

In interviews this week, few lawmakers and government observers blamed the mayor for the city's precarious fiscal condition or his inability to extract more quickly from the state the legislation that was so vital to balancing Philadelphia's budget.

"But it's like a professional ball team: If the ball team is not playing, they fire the manager," Donatucci said. "I don't believe he's seriously in trouble, but he will have some scarring from this ordeal."

For one thing, the city unions that Nutter must strike deals with appear to have emerged stronger and more unified. If not for their brash lobbying efforts, combined with those of their state counterparts, the General Assembly might have passed the legislation Nutter needed at least three weeks ago.

Instead, the unions objected vociferously to Senate language added to the legislation that restricted collective-bargaining rights on pension issues. That language was stripped out in the final version of the bill passed yesterday.

Also, there's some belief that Nutter, a city councilman for 15 years, should have better anticipated all that could go wrong by relying on the state to close the city's budget gap. Even at the time he turned to Harrisburg, the state budget was controversial, with Gov. Rendell and House and Senate leaders disagreeing about how many dollars needed to be shed, and from where.

Nutter has said there was no practical alternative since City Council last spring refused his initial plan for a steep property-tax hike - a revenue move that would have required no state approval.

In the end, Nutter was powerless, since he had no control over the state measures he sought as a result of a compromise with Council: a penny-per-dollar sales tax hike and pension-payment deferments. Both were essentially held hostage by Pennsylvania lawmakers more interested in the state budget stalemate.

"Who could have known the lines in the sand would be drawn and it would go this long?" said Democratic political consultant Larry Ceisler, referring to Pennsylvania's being the only state still without a budget. "Unfortunately, Nutter's request got caught up in the debacle," he said.

Some critics said Nutter also overreached in pushing his Plan C "doomsday" budget - the possible consequence of state inaction - as a scare tactic to pressure the legislature. With no funding provided for the city court system and 3,000 job losses, even the city's financial watchdog agency last week cast doubt on the plan, returning it to Nutter for revisions.

The mayor declined to be interviewed for this story. But his political adviser, Richard Hayden, praised his "dogged determination" and said: "In this business you get judged by your results, and this is a clear win for him and the city."

Similarly, said Comcast executive David L. Cohen, board chairman of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, "from a business community perspective, he comes out a pretty big winner for hanging in there and taking a never-say-die attitude."

By all accounts, Nutter made a good impression in what yesterday was his 15th trip to Harrisburg this summer. "He was very well-received," particularly by lawmakers from outside the region, Donatucci said. "They appreciated he was here and not some lobbyist for the city."

Whether at news conferences or a City Hall rally, Nutter for weeks deliberately used careful rhetoric when urging a legislative vote, never publicly criticizing or provoking lawmakers for their inaction. Instead, he emphasized what was at stake for Philadelphia - massive layoffs and service cuts - if the measures failed.

With Plan C averted, the focus shifts to how the budget crisis, and the contract talks, will set the tone for what Nutter can achieve going forward.

"He and his administration do have to square away reasonable labor contracts," Hayden said. "Once they do that, they can get back to the priorities identified in the campaign: Public safety, education, and economic development."

While there has been progress on those issues, he conceded: "They've been overwhelmed by the attention and energy necessary to devote to the budget."

City Councilman Bill Green, a Nutter rival, had a different perspective. "What we learned in Harrisburg is Mayor Nutter is a great campaigner, which is different than his skills as an executive," he said. "He hasn't demonstrated he can run a city. He has demonstrated he can campaign for one."

With attentions fixated for months on the budget dilemma, little else got done in City Hall. It's as if Nutter's administration has been in a state of "suspended animation," said Phil Goldsmith, managing director under Nutter's predecessor, John F. Street.

"He still has to define himself a little in what his administration is about and what his priorities are," he said.

Two years ago, Nutter won a five-way Democratic primary as voters endorsed his call for honesty, transparency, and good-government ethics. But given the ailing economy, the No. 1 concern shifted to trash delivery, library accessibility, and the delivery of other basic services.

"He is a first-term mayor who has had to do nothing but crisis management," said Sam Katz, a three-time Republican candidate for mayor. He expected that to change somewhat as Nutter shifts gears with his 2012 reelection in mind.

"The bottom line is, most people would have expected we'd be beyond the talking stages about what the city's potential is, and realizing it," Katz said. Instead, a leadership vacuum has opened, "and the person who everyone hopes and expects can fill it is Michael Nutter."