live from the university of arizona for the tucson festival of books with author talks and call-ins. this year's festival features katie tur or and charles sykes. military historian max boot, investigative journalist david cay johnston and many other authors. later in the march it's the virginia festival of book in charlottesville and national black writers conference in brook run, new york. in april -- brooklyn, new york. in april we're headed to texas for the san antonio book festival, and we'll be live once again at the los angeles times festival of books. for more information about upcoming book fairses and festivals and to watch previous festival coverage, click the book fairs tab on our web site, booktv.org. ..

welcome our guest tonight to the stage. i'd like to take a minute to share some information about our upcoming programs. this season, we will host a number of exciting speakers and engage in conversations including february 5th a sweeping historical discussion how the right to bear arms from america's founding until today. on february 7th, a retrospective commemorating the constitutional legacy of the late justice antonin scalia two years after his death. on february 21st, a special members program on the role of dissent throughout american history. on march 20th, an exclusive

book launch with national constitution center president and ceo jeffrey rosen on william howard taft and of course, much more. to purchase tickets or for more details about these and other upcoming events, please visit constitution center.org/debate. if you're interested in becoming a member, visit the membership table directly outside the auditorium lobby on information how to join today. members receive free tickets to our popular daytime programs, discounted tickets to evening events like tonight, all while directly supporting the center's nonprofit, nonpartisan mission to bring people together of all ages and perspectives to learn about debate and celebrate the u.s. constitution. and now, it is my pleasure to introduce two great friends of the national constitution center, michael nutter was elected mayor of philadelphia in 2007 and served two terms. esquire magazine named him in

2011 to its americans of the year list and named a public official of the year by "governing" magazine in 2014. he is an executive fellow at pennsylvania school of social policy and practice and a professor of practice in urban and public affairs at columbia university. he joins us today to discuss his latest book "mayor, the best job in politics" which he will sign copies of following the discussion. we're also pleased to welcome tonight's host. mike is on cnn, a host, a new hampshire columnist and an author. he has been an msnbc contributor and guest of "hardball" with chris mathews and prior to returning to broadcasting as a full-time endeavor he practiced with james e beasley, the namesake

of beasley school of law at temple university. please join me in welcoming them. [applaus [applause] >> thank you so much. good evening, ladies and gentlemen, mayor, good evening. >> good evening, michael. >> mayor, the best job in politics, why is it the best job in politics? >> because you get stuff done. you can see the value and the impact of your work, you can help to change people's lives and it's a whole lot of fun. >> host: is it fair to say that if you had been able to master the periodic table when you were ten, you would never have pursued a career in politics? tell the story. [laughter]. >> guest: it's pretty likely,

but there came a point where i really didn't give a damn about the table. no, i went to penn, a biomedical engineering major, admitted to the engineering school. it became very clear in much like an auditorium like this, only bigger, that by mid semester, you could pretty much sit wherever you wanted and i think after pretty much failing the first three exams, it was clear that, a, i was not passing this course. b, i really didn't give a damn about the table of elements and, c, you're really not going to be a doctor in one semester. >> host: you had to work to get to work. >> guest: yeah. >> host: how were you able to achieve that? >> well, this is being recorded, so-- . [laughter] >> respect the university of pennsylvania. no, it was a long, torturous kind of path. about 95% of that torture

created by myself, by not necessarily being the most studious person, lawyers will kill me for saying that. and set up at the nightclub and probably working 60 hours a week and studying, maybe about 60 minutes. and so i tried to leave engineering school because again, it was clear there was no future for me. and after my first semester i tried to transfer, they denied my application because i had not kept the full course load, which at the time was four courses. the engineering school found out that i tried to transfer and said if you do that again and you're not successful, we're going to kick you out of school. okay. so then i said, okay, but i want to go to wharton and i want to take the course of

study to entrepreneur management and switched to the faculty arts and sciences, and i never declared a major, but i kept taking wharton courses and saying, a, you're not a wharton students and b, you have a pretty low average and c, if you don't get yourself together, we're going to kick you out of school. so i finally got more serious about my work. i did take a number of courses multiple times because i really enjoyed them. [laughter] >> and, so in may of 1979 i was six courses short of graduating. for some bizarre reason they actually let me walk in graduation. my mom was thrilled and my grandmother, i don't know what you're so excited about, i have to go to summer school tomorrow, but probably, maybe kind of my first political deal. i had an agreement with the

dean of undergraduate at wharton. look, i have six courses i'm not coming back in september, this is it. he said if you achieve a certain average for the six courses you'll be good to go. i hit the number right on the number. and he said, well, you're in and you're out, goodbye. but it's been nice knowing you. >> host: you mentioned a moment ago the impulse discoteque. and you write about this in the book. did master mike learn anything from mix master mike, anything that applied to your governance? >> that's possibly some of the best training and i'll tell you why. at the club i met a lot of people, i shook a lot of hands, i had to remember a lot of people, and every now and then, you know, you might have to throw someone out. you know, i'm not like the biggest guy around so i learned some negotiating skills, some people skills on how to nicely

put somebody out of a nightclub, and as mayor, you know, i met a lot of people, i shook a lot of hands. i had to remember a lot of folks, and every now and then i had to put some people out. [laughter]. >> host: i want to talk about some of the political battles that you've waged over the years. let's begin with mrs. lewinski, 282 votes to michael nutter's 48. who was she and what happened? >> so, mrs. lewinsky was a committee person in the 52nd ward. i got involved with councilman john anderson, he was seeking to become ward leader in 1982 and i was in a division where they were looking for a committee person and i went down to voter registration. i was a wharton school graduate so i was about data and information and regressive analysis and figure this thing

out. and i went down to voter registration and because i wanted to understand the constituency. there were three apartment buildings, i lived in the cool building and the other two had most senior residents and like 1898 date of birth, 1901, 1905. so, this is very old constituency here and i was in my early 20's, and so-- and it was apartment buildings. and so there were days where i would literally wait until someone came out of the building and then suddenly i realized maybe i can go in this way to put stuff under people's doors which you were not supposed to do in the first place, but she knew everyone and i know nobody, and she kicked my butt. at the time committee people ran every two years and now it's four years. i ran again, got closer.

it was clear it would take about 20, 25 years to ever beat her. she may have passed away. so, another big political decision, i moved. [laughter] >> it's funny how you never forget the lessons from the first campaign. when i was-- when i was at penn law i ran for the state legislature in bucks county. i lost by 419 votes and i've since located 236 of those people. so, you get elected to city council and one of your first initiatives, sort of ahead of your time as we live in this era of black lives matter, was the formation of the police advisory commission. how come? >> there have been a series of events prior to my time in city council, i had legitimately done a bunch of research, actually councilman anderson had looked at this issue when

he was in city council in his term and it just seemed that at the time, at least, once a complaint went in, it pretty much went nowhere. folks had lost confidence and at times credibility on investigations. others say they had similar civilian related bodies and did the research all around the country on this issue. put it forward, and it was controversial. the mayor at the time, mayor rendell had been a former district attorney, really hated it, like a lot. that was like september of 1992 when i introduced that legislatures and i was seven, eight months into the job freshman councilman creating this controversy. and battles back and forth and we passed that bill 11-6.

the mayor vetoed it. but to credit ed rendell, i think he knows that i know this, so a lot of behind of scenes conversations it became clear that the mayor wanted to end the controversy and in a pretty dramatic fashion then councilman wallstrap changed his video on the override and the bill passed 12-5. >> host: i'm not giving away the book for free. when they get the book tonight, and i'd like people to buy the book on c-span. >> guest: i'd like them to buy the book. >> host: you express regret for your position initially on the domestic partnership deal. talk about dealing with that issue in this book. >> so, i don't think it was very well-known at the time, but councilman anderson was gay.

this was not the totally loving, open progressive city that we are today, socially at least, in the late '70s, early '80s, but i saw and experienced in a pretty personal way the impact that his status, i guess, if you will, had politically. from time to time threats of people trying to out him, other comments that were made from time to time, and so i developed, you know, a great sensitivity to some of the challenges of folks in the lbgtq community. it got complicated because i was pushing the police advisory commission, at the same time councilman ortiz was pushing for domestic partnership.

and one was against domestic partnership and i got caught in freshman rookie mistake not being able to separate those two things in the way that i should have based on my own perspective and feelings and i didn't do anything to undermine councilman ortiz, but personally i was not as supportive publicly as i should have been because i didn't want to jam myself up on the police advisory commission. and ended up not going anywhere and i made a commitment to myself in that moment that this issue was going to get resolved and i was going to be the person to do it. >> host: the police advisory commission, one example where councilman michael nutter was ahead of his time. as i look back at your record and look at 2000, the smoking ban, really the first initiative on this scale and

scope, was a pretty significant achievement for a still young councilman. >> yeah, and as later, in my career, a lot of credit goes to, goes to our daughter, right there. she was working at a firm and did a lot of consulting and travel and rather than completely torture olivia with my cooking, i decided to take her to dinner. actually passed that restaurant just the other day and we're sitting there and you know, i always got some paper and crayons and drawing, doing that. and she observed that there was a man smoking in the restaurant and said, you know, that man is smoking, does he know that's bad for him and i said, yeah, well, that's what some people do that. she went back to drawing and she said, well, aren't you with

city council? what are you going to do about that? she's five years old. not an awful lot you can say and yes, i'm on city council and yes, i need to do something about it so we started that journey, and took six years to get that piece of legislation passed and it was actually one of the last bills that i voted on before resigning city council. >> host: police advisory commission, smoking ban, campaign finance reform, another feather in your cap. >> yeah, did a lot of work in that area, but i always make it a point, the first campaign finance law was actually passed by councilman -- after the 2003 election, i think we all remember a lot of things from the 2003 election, the bug and

all of that, but it's also clear that there were concerns about campaign finance, about pay to play, about you know, how the government was functioning and operationing and so, late november, early december of 2003, the first piece of legislation came through the mayor at the time, mayor street was opposed to itment council passed it anyway and i subsequently did another piece with restrictions, new contracting legislation, if you did business with the city you could only give a certain amount, a whole host of things, and then subsequently the ethics board. i read every indictment that came subsequent to the 2003 election. we made numerous amendments, updated indictments that the federal government was coming forward that was in the case of

ron white and corey kemp. and i think it was one of those moments where only in that kind of crisis could we have ever gotten that kind of legislation passed. people were not excited about this. we were the only place in the state that would have campaign finance limits, which subsequently were litigated all the way up to the pennsylvania supreme court and we were successful. >> host: as you look back now at the bug, what does michael nutter think about the successful effort to cast that as john ashcroft and the republicans from washington trying to dictate the outcome of a philadelphia mayoral race? >> well, i mean, i think we now know that-- i mean, that story was a complete fabrication and totals bu bull-- . in the moment it worked. many of us knew there was no

way in the world that was really what was going on, but, it's a heavily democratic city and folks did not like george bush, certainly didn't like john ashcroft so there was a narrative that was ready made after they kind of, two or three days after that big explosive story, everybody was radio silent and couldn't figure out what was going on and they laid out that scenario and people bought it. >> host: you point out in the book, and a lot of folks forget that the margin in that cast in street two it was bigger than four years prior. >> i don't know if the guru of numbers, but know this well, the 99 street-catz race i think the margin 9400 neighborhood, one of the closest in modern history, and i think the rematch, i think mayor street

won by like 85,000, it was some absurd number based on this whole fiction that had been created about the republicans in washington were trying to take down the black democratic mayor of philadelphia, which would then lead to the republicans being able to win pennsylvania in 2004. that was the fundamental theory, which just made no sense whatsoever. >> host: summer of 2006, you resigned from council, you have your eye now set on the mayoralty. i was surprised. maybe i knew at the time, i've forgotten, what a shoe string operation it was at the outset of your campaign. describe it. >> i'm not-- we may have borrowed some shoe strin strings. i mean, you know, so in may of

2006 we take a poll. i'm still on city council and i mean, it was well-known firm, garrett, hart-- and recognized pollster, and the poll said no matter who runs you can't win. well, how much did we pay for that? [laughte [laughter] >> back and forth, back and forth. in the end it's like what are we going to do. he said difficult not impossible. okay. but i think at this point just kind of jump right into things, you know, you don't just decide, well, you shouldn't. you don't just decide you're going to quit your job and run for mayor, i don't know, small

in a large city without a conversation with a whole lot of folks and the first one really has to be at home. you know, having support more than support, but having real support from lisa and olivia just -- i mean, you can't do it. so a lot of conversations about that. there was one discussion, i mean, when the final kind of decision was being made, olivia said, well, dad if this is what you really want to do, then that's what you should do and we'll support you. about five minutes later, she said, oh, by the way, so, you have to quit your job in city council? and i said yes. quiet. she said, so do i need to get a job? [laughter] >> there's no interest like self-interest.

so, so they're all in. you know, we're starting to assembly this team and we get this office at 123 south broad street. it's about 500 square feet. aaron is down there, and then this redhead guy comes in the office within day and i said, well, who is that? that was republic who, you know, i mean, maybe it's dissipated it was clear he was not from west philly, accent. and he had come to school and somehow found his way to me, evolving politics over in u.k. and we're in our little 500 square foot office, plenty of

desks and suddenly people are coming to volunteer and we had the move and the operation became much bigger, no one thought we could win. >> host: of course, you had a secret surprise on your side. i have a video screen here for a reason. >> oh. >> host: i hope it works. and if it does, roll it. [laughter] >> this is my dad. this is the house my dad grew up in west philadelphia. this is our dog, and my dad is pretty cool for an old guy. as my dad is only candidate for mayor with a child in the public schools. i know he wants to make them better and safer. my dad's pretty busy these days, but he still finds time to get into school. >> have a good day. be good. [applause] >> you know, like you, i've

paid attention for a long time. i don't think there's ever been. i shouldn't limit it to philadelphia, but i don't remember any commercial with the impact of that in a mayoral race. talk about it. >> yeah. well, i mean, this is-- that's all campaign work in their group. we -- i had this one thought that, i mean, i started, which is just not my forte at all. and designed a handout, a piece of literature, something, with family, some quotes, something, and started playing around with that and they reminded me, you know, especially, you know, neil he's very quiet, unassuming, you know, kind of person, you almost have to ask him to speak up sometimes. [laughter] >> and--

>> i'm here, michael! >> there he is. >> i had to wait to see how long it was going to take and he reminded me in his unique way that this is not what i do. but they came back and said, no, we think we can turn this into something else, you have a family, you have these-- i mean, and everything is true. i did take her to school every day. and it may have been the last time everyone looked like that. i really do have a wife and we have a dog and that was our house, and owned a car. and just came back and here it is. and you know, we ran-- he's in the back. we ran ten other ads or shot ten others and most of them

played. that is pretty much the only one that anyone remembers. i think it ran for maybe a week, ten days and came back at the end for a different purpose. it told a story and defined me or redefined me, not the nerdy wharton guy, the policy wonk from city council, hard charging, all of that, to has a family, grew up in a row house, he has a daughter, takes her to school every day and it meant a lot of different things to a lot of different people, depending who they were, black, white, latino, asian, young, older. it did change the dynamics of the race. >>. >> host: before i move on from the commercial, and not just

because she's here. give us the olivia update. >> guest: so she's not 12 anymore. people keep asking me did she graduate from high school yet? olivia graduated in may from columbia university. excuse me. [applaus [applause]. >> guest: and through the help of some good friends in politics, she is now a staff assistant on the senate small business and entrepreneurship committee on the democratic side in washington. so -- [applause]. >> host: congrats. >> another nutter in public service. >> host: it's like running my radio show, i have to be mindful of the clock because i could keep you all night and the certain point i'm going to surrender to questions that come from the audience. this is a lightning round. seven questions, bang, bang, bang. not even questions, just thoughts, and i want to hear what you have to say about them and then i'm going to move into

your mayoralty. number one. bob brady announced today he's not seeking reelection. [laughte [laughter]. >> guest: you know, we're not supposed to die in these jobs and you know, it's -- i think there's a whole generational shift going on in the city and across the country. it's just time for a whole bunch of new people to be in office. >> host: the statue belongs-- >> somewhere else. >> host: i'd be derelict in i didn't put this on the east. eagles-pats. >> e-a-g-l-e-s eagles. >> host: the introduction, i thought i had a lot going on.

you have a lot of balls in the air in careers. favorite post-mayoral gig. >> guest: the opportunity to have a relationship at both, university of pennsylvania and columbia university. i'm enjoying teaching and level of engagement with students and faculty and for me, i mean, it's been the best kind of transition. you know, running the city is big bureaucratic place with rules of regulation, and college and university, big bureaucratic place, but a lot of rules and regulations. difference, i'm not in charge. >> host: last night donald trump, first state of the union. >> disaster. >> host: the speech or the state of the union? >> speech. i mean, you know, look, i mean, he is-- my most partisan comment, there's something materially wrong with him. the country has been through worse and if folks get off

their butt and go out and vote in 2018 we'll make a difference in congress and then change the presidency in 2020. [applause]. >> host: two more quick ones. mayor jim kenny. >> doing a job. you know, i mean, i'd be remiss if i didn't acknowledge at least, supposedly sneaking in the side, i saw don swartz. it was don swartz's idea that we propose a sugar sweetened beverage tax in the city of philadelphia and i think it's that level of, again, innovation of foresight, let's put litigation aside, the success in 2016. focus on universal pre-k, you know, another issue that, i mean, all of us care deeply about during my tenure, so, i mean, there are a lot of things

going on in the city of philadelphia na, i mean, we try to, you know, we try to leave the city in better shape than we found it and i think the mayor is, you know, capitalizing on those things and then he has his own initiatives. >> host: final lightning round question. michael nutter in ten years. >> well, first, i'd like to be here. and i'll be 70. so, you know, i'll be doing many of the same things i'm doing now, trying to work with candidates across the country, to change the political landscape. stay involved in politics, stay involved with teaching and might slow down just a little bit, but, you know, i believe in being active. >> host: are you done running for office yourself? >> yes. and part of it is, why that's the title of the book. there's no other office that i'm really interested in. there's no other office that

you can have the impact, the kind of things and the people i talk about. i can name our folks all night long, there are certain things we're very, very proud of save people's lives from a safety standpoint. there are more kids who graduated from also and went on to college and graduated from there. more people working. you look at number of cranes in the sky and buildings going up. i broke ground on a number of those buildings when i was in office i think we did improve the ethical culture of the city of philadelphia. there aren't many jobs in politics that you can have that kind of impact and that's part of what i love and the family that i got to work with, fantastic public servants. >> host: and one of the attractions and the reason it's the best job in politics is that you're free of some of the ideological entanglements that say a member of the house or senate would face, you quote the famous laguardia.

tell us what it is, just making the trains run on time or does ideology quick in? >> i wouldn't call it ideology and maybe that's splitting hair. but just governing philosophy. i was at the u.s. conference of mayors last week. you don't hear conversation about the democratic position or the republican position on infrastructure, on public safety, on whether kids are getting an education clean water, sustainability. you have as many republican mayors who have the community-- you don't have time for a lot of nonsense and, i mean, the parties take positions and all that. you've got to make sure that there's water running through the pipe, that a professional shows up at a 911 call, when tragedy strikes everybody really kind of, really does come together and that's what governing is about at the local level. you don't have much time for

philosophical debate. if there's 15 inches of snow outside and i know that c-span is here and i love them, but, i can't go make a speech on c-span and think that something's going to result pr that. but people do that at 3:00 in the morning being back home to their constituents. mayors can't do that. you either moved the snow or didn't. you picked up my trash or you didn't. the place is running well or it's not. that's this job. >> host: day one, you called a crime emergency. you were benefitted by a then new, relatively new police commissioner in chuck ramsey. that was a priority of yours day one until the end. >> guest: again, a little bit of back-story. in the early 2000's you know, na new york and others, and new york has been on an incredible downward trend, and their numbers were going down and ours were going up and i felt maybe we could do something about it and maybe the center

piece of the campaign. as michael bloomberg says you can't have a great city if people don't feel safe. that was a growing concern. there was a daily counter on the front page of one of the newspapers about the level of homicides in the city. i took that on as a major issue and we fought some battles about it, but the facts are the facts. first year reduction in homicide. 31% over the eight year period. >> host: in the spring of 2008 you experienced the sort of emotional highs and emotional lows within a very close time period. we'll deal with the highs first, march 31, 2008 you get to throw out the first pitch at the phillies, how much preparation went into it? >> a fair amount. i think you can pretty much destroy your career with a bad pitch in front of 45,000 people. [laughter] >> on opening day, in philadelphia. you know, we make a sport of

torturing elected officials at sporting events. fortunately, it was three months in. i really hadn't done anything to anybody so people didn't have much reason to be upset with me. it was mostly with jordan swartz. probably about two weeks of practice and a couple of visits down to the ballpark. >> host: for that one throw. >> for one throw. >> host: but paid off for you. >> guest: well, i threw a strike, so-- >> unfortunately, a very sad note. may 3rd, 2008 sergeant lizbinski. you say in the book, absolutely nothing prepares you for that moment. >> well, it's true. you know, i was between events, we got a call that an officer had been shot. we had no details, but word was kind of stay put, probably out ten minutes later another call you need to get to the hospital. i mean, you know, we have 6,000

plus police officers, is it possible-- again, i'd only been mayor for a little while, but nonetheless, welcoming the family as people are running in, the officers, it was a very chaotic scene and the other part to that, three people in a botched robbery, one dead, one in custody, one in the wind. he was hit with an ak-47 that nearly took his arm off his shoulder. to experience those family members and to be in the room when the doctor comes in and says that the sergeant didn't make it, i mean, there's nothing you can say, there's nothing you can do, but you have to because it is your obligation at that moment to be there for that family, for the relatives, for the officers and

to see that scene at temple university and these brave men and women in uniform literally breaking down in tears and you're standing in the middle of it, and people looking for leadership, looking for direction. i've never experienced anything like that in my life and it's very jolting. fortunately, you know, commissioner ramsey was there, clay was there, clay armbruster, chief of staff. the deputy mayor, and other folks. and they really, you know, supported me as i tried to provide support to others. 2008 in that regard, i mean, that was a very rough year. we lost four police officers, killed in the line of duty, may have been the most of any major city in the country. it's very painful. you never get over it. but in that moment it's not about you, it's about them, and you have to be there for them. but there's nothing to prepare

you for that. >> there were many instances during the course of your mayoralty, you were known for being very blunt spoken and one you write about in the book in the context of flash mobs. this was a speech that you delivered at mt. carmel baptist church where you're a member. i turned to the parents, told them bluntly, get your act together, raise your own kids, know where they are, a particular mental for the fathers, you're not a father because you have a kid or two or three, that doesn't make you a father, a father is a person around to participate in a child's life, he's a teacher, helps to guide and shape and mold that young person. someone for that young person to talk to, to share with, their ups, their downs, their fears, their concerns. if you're not doing that, you're what the girl call out in the streets that's my baby daddy, that's my baby daddy, don't be that. what reaction did you get from all communities after that

speech? >> well, in the church, i mean, which i anticipated, because i know that pastor well and i know the members. that was a message-- i mean, that's an old school conversation. that's a 55th and kind of discussion. that's the parishioners are more in that generation and would be supportive of that kind of message, but i mean, i wasn't only talking to the c congregates. i'm sure there were some folks who didn't like it, you can't get away from that, but i think as mayor, especially, and as an african-american, it is very, very important to be truthful and honest about some of the challenges and ills that have a

particularly significant impact in the black community. i would get criticized for talking about violence in the plaque black community. if i've got kids dying in the street, i've got to say anything about it and i'm going to challenge any of you on your behavior. whatever your disputes may be there's nothing that justifies you walking up and shooting somebody in the head. nothing. >> if i hadn't read the book i might have misspoken and called it a sugar tax or a soda tax. i'm supposed to say sugar sweetened beverage tax. >> yes, ssb, yeah. >> host: how come? why so important? >> well, i mean, i guess there are some purists out there. i mean, that's what it is. that's what it was targeted to be, you know, the--

soda tax-- i mean, i don't have some personal vendetta with the-- with the soda folks, i mean, it is possibly the lease nutritious, probably the most worthless product ever created. [laughter] >> but, i mean, it's not personal. it has been shown to be a component of the level of overweight and obese conditions across america. we have a particular challenge here in philadelphia that our health department and others worked on. and so, we were pretty aggressive about it for two reasons, one, it is a very serious health issue in this city and second, first, the first go round the city needed the money and the second go round the school district needed the money, but i think at the time the lack of recognition by the industry that they were at least a contributor to the problem

that, you know, may have generated some extra aggressive activity from me. >> host: i'm going to move on keeping an eye on the clock to audience questions. i have one more though, whether it appears in the book or not, tell me a story about the pope. you have so many interesting experiences relative to securing that visit. give me something. >> guest: well, first, the defenses were not eight feet high. but more importantly, i just never met anyone that had such a-- such a warmth and a spirit about themselves, who was so focused on other people, that behind the scenes discussion. i mean, what people saw, of course, the excitement and pageantry of three different outdoor events and mass and the independence hall, perhaps constitution center, but i think for me one of the most

moving moments as one that was maybe not as visible to a lot of folks which was the visit to our prison. the pope, pope francis personally insisted that the visit to the prison had to be on his schedule. ap there were a lot of naysayers back and forth and even some of his own folks expressing concern. and i guess you can say this when you're the pope, that's what i'm going to do, end of conversation. the inmates were thrilled, they made a chair for him, which the pope insisted be taken back on, i don't know if it's paper papal one or what he drives, but that chair went back to rome and again, he's one of those folks, folks are trying to move him along and he would just resist any effort for people to interfere with his

ability to connect with someone in a very personal and direct way. i mean, totally-- >> two questions from the audience pertaining to amazon. one would be the pluses and minuses if philadelphia were to win, maybe i should have put the cart before the horse, what should philadelphia be doing now to try and market itself in that regard? >> well, you know, that's always-- i mean, i am tremendously sensitive to successors trying to, a, publicly give advice to currents, and b, i am so far away from, you know, kind of the inside story on what the city is trying to do, but in a sense, obviously, you know, amazon and 50,000 jobs and whatever the economic development benefits are, i don't know what they're seeking for themselves, but i mean, it would be a tremendous boost to

not just philadelphia, but certainly at a minimum, the tri-state area. i think the issue seems to be where. we, fortunately, i think, have a number of potential locations and we've kind of positioned ourselves that way. i don't know what amazon is exactly asking for, i would say to any of the 20 cities that are now on the short list, just, you know, be mindful of, you know, if that ends up being your deal with one particular company, does that, you know, put you out of position to attract other businesses, or possibly put-- set you up that everyone's going to want the same thing if they, you know, come forward with a big announcement. >> host: great question. what has been the most challenging aspect of your transition from public to more private life? >> well, first, it is, i think,

just realizing the true recognition that it's really kind of over, and so, you know, i -- some people know, you know, bought a tahoe before i was elected, we donated to the city, that's what we rode around in and it had tremendous police perspective detail for eight years, didn't have a car, and pretty much only rode in that car unless i went somewhere with lisa. the tradition is, after leaving office you get basically another six months to kind of transition, but everybody goes away and you keep one officer, so the agreement was because we were hosting the democratic national convention in 2016, normally it would have been at the end of june and the agreement was, it would be right after the end of the

convention. so you know, the -- a big speech thursday night and it's over on friday. take care, have a nice life, we've enjoyed you, good bye. so, so my time in other people's vehicles, so, but the real moment that you know is really this one. so, i'm up at columbia and this is like april of 2016. and there was something going on back in philadelphia so at that time my class was 2:00 in the afternoon until about 4:00 so i called one of those companies and trying to catch the 5:00 train at penn station from columbia university at

4:00 in the afternoon. had i bolt out the door, the thing says my car is there. i come right out the door, i jump in the vehicle, we're going on, and we go down to the end of the block and make a right and you know, new york city has like these really long blocks, you know, i guess the avenues are really long, not the numbered streets so we get halfway and the guy's phone rings and he-- the other person says, where are you? and he says, what do you mean? and he turns around and looks at me. i got in the wrong car. and so he turns -- so i'm in new york. he just turns around and says, well, like, you have to get out. [laughte [laughter] >> i'm sorry? and i'd been travelling so i had my -- everyone knows my little backpack and i had luggage. so i get out and so i call the

one in my phone and the guy answers and i said, sorry i got in the wrong car, can you come get me and he says, where are you, i look up and i have this long blocks, there is no street sign. i said, well, i don't know where i am. he says, well, then i can't come get you. so, i walk down to the end of the block and it's 110th and columbus avenue. and it was in that moment that i said, i'm just another guy standing on the street corner at 110th and columbus and not a soul out here gives a damn about me. it's over. [laughte [laughter]. [applaus [applause] >> you were most proud of the fact, you say in the book, of the crime and homicide rate and increase in high school

graduations. if there's one more thing you wish during your mayoralty there's one more thing you wish could have done better. >> guest: better and both, and to me, they're tied together. if we did a better job educating our young people and young adults, if they had more opportunity, if more went on to graduate from high school, higher learning, return to school, go to alternative schools, that educational attainment actually has an impact on crime. and you know, i get asked that question, i'm proud of two positives and disappointed in myself that we were not able to accomplish even more. our kids deserve a high quality education and they deserve the opportunity to go on and fulfill their potential and

this the city is held back by lack of educational attainment, the poverty that holds so many people back. the number of folks who are returning citizens still find it challenging to get a job and the changing nature of our economy and the skills mismatch between jobs that are available and the skills that people have and they're still not able to find employment. so, you know, the thing about compared to boston, chicago, a new other places, it's a two term limit. you do what you can. and time is your most precious resource and you know, we try to do the best we could with what we had. i had an incredible team, which made all the difference in the world. and you know, you pass the baton and someone else gets to run the rest of the race. >> a great, i think, law

enforcement question from the audience, why do policemen always win in arbitration after they're fired. >> guest: so, first, i mean, i have to say they don't always win. but, i mean, there is a pretty high success rate. i think the biggest part of it is, the arbitrators, there's a limited pool of arbitrators. in many instances they're agreed upon by both sides. and i think the arbitrators are very cognizant, many of them, of the fact that if they are not somewhat favorable to the aggrieved officers, they'll never get picked again. that's it. >> host: two final questions for mayor nutter. number one, did i just lose my

microphone? there we go. >> guest: you got it. >> host: challenges of keeping corruption out of the government. >> guest: first, it's a daily, daily focus, daily exercise. it is to some extent unlike many, many other components of the government. so, you know, if you're in the streets department, you fill a pothole and it's done for now, maybe revisit that ten years down the road. and you pick up the trash, that's it. and give somebody a building permit and they're gone until we build another building. people are people and you know, somebody right now, somewhere in the city, is probably trying to figure out you know, how to do something that they shouldn't be doing. so it's a constant effort, constant barrage of folks

trying to do bad things and having, again, during my time. folks like joe and amy, and the officers across the government knowing, a, they would be back up and b, this is how we're going to run the place, and we will not tolerate this kind ever nonsense. i think sent the right message, and people still did stuff, almost all of them got caught and got in trouble, and we publicized it. i mean, it's just, it's not worth it. and i think that did help clean the place up, but, i mean, it's never over on the ethics side. it's relentless, it's every day and you've got to preach that to the troops and to the public. i mean, i would remind folks, you know, it takes two to tango and called on the public from time to time, stop trying to corrupt our people. you know, there was one of our biggest ones you know, a guy was selling, overbuying toner

for the city and then selling it to a company in, i believe, arkansas. he lost his job, went to jail. the husband and wife of the business, they were indicted. they went to jail, and a huge fine, paid back to the city. i think they ripped us off for like $600,000 for the stuff, and-- >> toner, toner is expensive. >> guest: i don't know what it is, but told to steal hours. >> host: you're going to sign books in a couple of minutes so sort of take us out with a discussion of your writing process. how did you go about this? did you enjoy it, not enjoy it, talk to me about that. >> and it was his latest book, the only book. [laughter] >> you know, so, you know, i said the other day, of all the things i thought i might do

post, writing a book was not one of them. it's been mentioned a number of times, lisa talked to me about it, a former director of communications talked to me about it my first response was. a, i don't know anything about writing a book, b, i don't have time to write a book, and c-- >> and peter and folks over at penn press talked to me about it and, i mean, at least for this, they've made it pretty, pretty easy. this started the spring of last year and i gave a series of lectures out at the university of pennsylvania, which were all videotaped and then transcribed. hence, there's a part one, part two, part three, because i did three lectures. and then they found a tremendous writer, pamela haig,

who worked with me, so all the language is mine, it's out of my mouth, i mean, there's nothing manufactured or created, but, i mean, there is a way of writing and you know, i don't really think anyone would want to read what i actually wrote because i write like i talk. and so, i mean, it's a craft to that but this was not, you know, some out of the 1950's with me sitting at a typewriter. i mean, that book would take like 40 years. so, and then no one would really be interested in that. so, the three lectures, a couple of manuscripts, readings, couple of interviews over the course of last summer, and you know, they're literally off to the races and now you've got a book. >> host: ladies and gentlemen, "mayor, the best job in politics" michael nutter.

[applause]. ... what an experience, thank you. [applause] well done.

[inaudible conversations] >> booktv is on twitter and facebook and we want it hear from you. tweet us twitter.com/booktv or post a comment on our facebook page, facebook.com/booktv. [silence] [applause] wow. i should stop right there. my name is alec executive of the nonprofit partner of the harriet truman library museuming in independence. welcome to wonderful program tonight. thanks for coming. and i want to thank vivia