Mayor Michael Nutter

by Jay A. McCalla

Lately, the veracity of some presidential candidates has been called into question. This happens frequently because candidates are always talking. A demure candidate is a losing candidate. And so, the river of words flows forth.

You will recall Joe Biden being drummed out of an earlier presidential bid for quoting Neil Kinnock without attribution. Hillary falsely claimed to have ducked sniper fire in Bosnia. The latest “credibility bender” was Donald Trump’s claim that he witnessed New Jersey Arabs cheering as the World Trade Center was attacked on 911.

While lies seem increasingly popular amongst the political class, most voters merely emit a cynical chuckle and go their merry way when learning of them. After all, it's just politics and we know there are no rules, no oaths, no saints. Like the used car salesmen to which they are often compared, we don't expect the full truth from our politicians.

But what do we do when a politician actually gets elected to powerful executive position and repeatedly tells a material lie to the press and public? Imagine that lie concerned the ironclad matters of law, transparency, accountability and disclosure.

These questions aren't idle. In the run-up to the visit of Pope Francis, Mayor Michael Nutter said, with neither qualification nor qualm, that the historic event wouldn't cost Philly taxpayers one thin dime. He said it often. He said it broadly.

Now, it turns out the mayor was in error. We owe $8 million. He should have been more clear, he says. Excuse me?

Nutter twice led sizable delegations to Vatican City to personally negotiate the details of the visit. Those super-expensive treks produced a “Master Agreement” that, undoubtedly, decreed who would pay for what. “Who pays for what” is one of the oldest questions in civilization.

The fact is, the entire time Nutter was saying the event was cost-free, he knew his words were absolutely untrue.

In a move that raises charter-level concerns, Nutter single-handedly committed Philadelphia to an open-ended financial obligation and an array of other undisclosed conditions and obligations. Some may recall Nutter declining to make the Master Agreement public, even the week before the visit. He claimed it had not yet been signed. Did it get signed during the visit? After the visit?

We can forgive the mayor for his hyperbolically wrong forecast of regional economic benefit. We can “sort of” forgive him for the egregiously erroneous crowd projections and grossly overwrought security measures. Nutter is only human. But in the case of a sudden bill for $8 million, Nutter knew we were on the hook and chose to deny it.

Some Philadelphians might have argued our schools come first. Some might have objected to subsidizing a religious event. The many local groups that receive zero city support might have cried out. Nutter knew all of this.

So, rather than be frank about the cost, the mayor effectively directed his departments to overspend their budgets with the expectation that he would get them replenished after the event. And, so it was that an ordinance was introduced in early December that rearranged the city budget to cover the costs of the historic visit.

This raises the question of why City Council did not cry “bloody murder” when they received an unexpected $8 million bill? Are they pliable simpletons or were they quietly told to expect it? As much evidence as there is for the former, in this case, it's likely to be the latter. Members of Council (or, at least the leadership) must have known to ignore Nutter’s frequent statements that the visit was cost-free to Philly. This would mean that Council, while the public and media were in the dark, knew the truth.

So, what do we with consequential duplicity at the hands of a mayor with a few days left in office? I guess that depends on how we feel about being lied to. Will there be a line of protesters outside City Hall? Probably not. More likely, this civic masquerade will further fuel the distrust that abides between the governors and the governed, driving voter turnout even deeper into the single digit territory we witnessed during this summer’s special elections.