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to say pick february 7, a retrospective commemorating the constitutional legacy of the late justice-- justice antonin scalia two years after his death per february 21, a special members program on the role of dissent throughout american history. march 20, exclusive book launch with national constitution president and ceo jeffrey rosen on william howard taft and much more. to purchase tickets or for more details about these and other upcoming events visit constitution center.org/debate and if you are interested in becoming a member of the national prostitution center, please, visit the membership table outside for more

information on how to join today members receive free tickets to our popular daytime programs, discounted tickets to evening events like tonight while directly supporting the centers non- partisan mission to bring people together of all ages and perspectives to learn about great and celebrate the u.s. constitution and now it's my pleasure to institute-- two great friends of the national constitution center, michael nutter was elected mayor of philadelphia in 2007 and served it to terms. esquire magazine named him in 2011 to its american of the year list and he was named public official of the year by governing magazine in 2014 and is executive fellow at the university of pennsylvania school of social policy and practice and a professor of professional practice in urban and public affairs at: the 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 are pleased to welcome tonight's moderator. michael is the host of the michael program on sirius xm. a newspaper columnist and on offer. he's been on msnbc contributor and guest host of hardball for chris matthews and prior to returning to broadcasting he practiced law for 10 years of the namesake of the university school of law here please join me in welcoming michael nutter. [applause].

>> could evening, ladies and john. mayor, good evening. "mayor: the best job in politics", why is that the best job in politics? >> as you get stuff done. you see the value and impact of your work and you could help to change people's lives and it's a whole lot of fun. >> is it fair to say that if you had been able to master the periodic table when you're 10 that you would never have pursued a career in politics? tell the story. [laughter] >> it is pretty likely, but there came a point where i really didn't give a damn about the table of elements. i went to pen premed, a biomedical engineering major and made it to the engineering school and it became very clear and much like an auditorium like this only bigger that by midsemester 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 wasn't passing this course, b i really didn't give a damn about the table of elements and c you aren't going to be a doctor. [laughter] >> how were you able to achieve this? >> this is being recorded-- [laughter] i will respect the university of pennsylvania. it was a long torturous kind of paths, about 95% of that torture was by myself, by not necessarily being the most studious person in. i started working at the impulse nightclub and probably worked about 60 hours a week studying may be about 60 minutes. [laughter]

and so i tried to-- again, it was clear there was no future there for me so after my first true master i tried to transfer. might application was denied because i had not had the full course load which at the time was for courses in the engineering school found out i tried to transfer and said if you do it again and aren't successful we will kick you out of school. so, then i said okay, but i want to go toward in and keep taking course of study for entre door management so i switched to faculty of arts and sciences and never declared a major but i taking wording close-- courses so they sent me a letter saying you're not a a working student and you have below average and if you don't get yourself together we will kick you out of school so i finally got more serious about my work and 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 let me walk in graduation. my mom was thrilled at my grandmother and i was like i don't know what york so excited about, i have to go to summer school tomorrow. maybe kind of my first political deal, had an agreement with the dean of undergraduate warden and said you have six courses and i said i'm not coming back in september this is it and he said if you achieve a certain average you will be good to go. i hit the number right on the number and he said you are in and year out, goodbye. [laughter] it's been nice knowing you. >> you mentioned a moment ago

the impulse disc attacking you write about this in the book. did mayor mark-- mayor mike learn anything from mix master mike, any lessons in that disco that applied to governance? >> possibly some of the best training and i will 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 we might have just throw someone out. i'm not like the biggest guy around so i learned negotiating skills and people skills on how to nicely put someone out of a nightclub and as mayor i met a lot of people, shook a lot of hands, had to remember a lot of folks and every now and then i had to put some people out. [laughter] >> went to talk about some of the political battles that you have waged over the years. let's begin with mrs. lewinsky, 282 votes to michael nutter's 48

who was she and what happened? >> she was a committee person in the 52nd lord your chi had just gotten involved with councilman john anderson who is seeking to become would later and 9082 and i lived in a division where they were looking for a committee person and do so i went down to voter registration. i mean, i was a wharton school of graduate so i was about data and information and regression analysis and i was going to figure this thing out and i went down to voter registration and started looking because i wanted to understand the constituents. there were three apartment buildings. i lived in the really cool building and the other two were more senior residents. i'm like eight-- 1898 date of birth, 1901, 1905, so i realized

it's very old constituency and i was in my early 20s and there were a part of buildings, so there were days where i would literally wait until someone came out of the building and suddenly i realized maybe i can go in this way to put stuff under people's doors, which you are not supposed to do in the first place, but lillian with everyone and i virtually knew no one and she kicked my butt. at the time committee people ran every two years and now they run every four years. i ran again, without a little closer, but it was clear would probably take about 20, 25 years and two of her beat her peer she may have passed away so another big political decision, i moved. [laughter] >> funny how you never forget the lessons from that first campaign. when i was-- i ran for the state legislature in bucks county and

lost by 419 votes and i has since located 236 of those people. [laughter] so, you get elected to city council and one of your first initiative sort of ahead of your time as we live in this era of black lives matter was the formation and police advisory commission. how come? >> there have been a series of events prior to my time and city council i had legitimately done some research. councilman anderson have looked at this issue when he was a city council in his term and it does seem that at the time at least once a complaint when in it pretty much went nowhere. had lost confidence in a times the credibility of some of the investigations. other cities had similar civilian related bodies, new york in particular, so research

all around the country on this issue. put it forward and was controversial. of the mayor at the time had been the former district attorney and really hated it, like a lot. that was like september 1992 when i introduce this piece of legislation, 78 months into the job in creating this controversy president a street at the, very supportive. a lot a battles back and forth. we pass that bill 11-six. the mayor vetoed it, but to the credit and i think he knows i know this there are a lot of behind-the-scenes conversation it became clear the mayor wanted to end the controversy and in a pretty dramatic fashion. then councilman changed his vote on the override in the bill

passed 12-five. >> i'm not giving away the whole book for free. we want people to buy the book. >> we would like people to buy the book. >> but a number of the stories i want to pull from it. you expressed regret in the book for your position initially on the domestic partnership bill. talk about dealing with that issue in this book. >> i 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. i saw at experienced in a pretty personal way the impact that his status i guess if you will had politically. threats of people trying to out

him, other comments made from time to time and so i developed a great sensitivity to some of the challenges of folks in the lgbtq community. the politics got collocated because i was pushing the police advisory commission. at the same time the councilman was pushing for domestic partnership benefits. the councilman was very much in favor of the police advisory commission and very much against domestic partnership, but i got caught in i think kind of a freshman rookie mistake of not being able to separate those two things in the way that i should have based on my own perspective and feelings. i didn't do anything to undermine councilman ortiz, but

i felt personally i was not as supportive publicly as i shouldn't because i didn't want to jam it myself up on the police advisory commission piece it ended up not going anywhere at the time, but i made a commitment to myself in a moment that this issue was going to get resolved and i was going to be the person to do it. >> the police advisory commission, one example of where councilman michael nutter was ahead of his time. as i look back at your record and focus on the year 2000, the smoking ban which was really the first initiative on this scale and scope was a pretty significant achievement for a still young councilman. >> i want to get your thoughts, and later in my career a lot of credit goes to our daughter who is right there. lisa was working at a firm and did a lot of consulting and the travel and rather than

completely torture over via with my cocaine i decided to take her to do it-- with my cooking, i decided to take her to dinner. we were sitting there and i got like some paper and crayons and drawings, she loved doing that work she observed there was a man smoking in the restaurant and the said that man is smoking does he know that's bad for him and i said yeah. some people do that. she went back to drawing and then said well, aren't you a city councilman. [laughter] we going to do about that? she's five years old. not a whole lot you can say to that. yes, i'm on the city councilman i guess i need to do something about it, so we started the journey. it took six years to get that piece of legislation passed and one of-- was one of the last bills voting on before i

resigned. >> police advisory commission, smoking ban, campaign finance representative form is another feather in your. >> yeah, did a lot of work in that area, but i was making a point-- the first campaign finance law was actually passed by counsel and would junior. right after the 2003 election i think we all remember a lot of things from the 2003 election. you know, the bug and all of that, but it was also clear that there were concerns about campaign finance, about pay to play, about how the government was functioning and operating, so late november, early december, 2003, the first piece of legislation came through and the mayor at the time was opposed to it. council passed it anyway and then i subsequently did another piece with different

restrictions, new contracting legislation that if you did business with the city you can only give a certain amount and whole host of things and then subsequently the ethics board. i read everything subsequent to that election and we made numerous amendments-- 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 any people were not excited about this. we are the only place in the state that would have campaign-finance limits which is subsequently were litigated all

the way up to the pennsylvania supreme court and we were successful. >> as you look that cash back now at the bug, what does michael nutter think of the successful effort to cast ballots as john ashcroft and the republicans from washington try to dictate the outcome of a philadelphia may or will raise? >> i think we now know that, i mean, that story was a complete fabrication total bull [bleep], in the moment it worked. i mean, many of us knew that there was no way in the world that it was really what was going on, but it's a heavily democratic city and folks didn't like john ashcroft, so there was a narrative was already made, i mean, after they come in two or three days after that big explosive story everyone was kind of radio silent and we couldn't figure out was going on and then we-- they laid out that

scenario and people bought it. >> you point out in the bucket i think a lot of folks forget the margin in that cycle, which was cash and street to was bigger than it was four years prior. >> i think-- i don't know if he is here, but neil will know this well. i think the 99th street cats race i think the margin was somewhere 9400 neighborhood, one of the closest in modern history and i think the rematch i think mayor street one by like 85000, i mean, like some absurd number based on this whole fiction that had been created about the republicans in washington trying to take down the black democratic mayor of philadelphia , which would then lead to the republicans of being able to win pennsylvania in 2004

was the fundamental theory, which made no sense whatsoever. >> summer, 2006, you resign from counsel and have your eyes set on the mayor. i was surprised it may be ended at the, but forgot what a shoestring operation it was at the outset of your campaign. describe it. >> we may have borrowed some shoestrings. [laughter] i mean, you know, so in may of 2006, we take a poll, i'm still on city council. i mean, it was a well-known firm , nationally recognized pollster, paid money in the poll said basically no matter who runs you cannot win.

well, how much did we pay for that? back and forth, back and forth and you know at the end it's like what are we going to do and said to the firm what you think and they said difficult not impossible. okay. but, this point and, i mean, we just jump right in the face, you know, you don't just decide you shouldn't. you just don't decide you're going to quit your job and run for mayor of small, medium or large city without a whole lot of conversation with a lot of folks. the first one really has to be home. having support i mean more than support, having real support from lisa and olivia just really , i mean, you can't do it. so, we had a lot of

conversations about that. there was one discussion, i mean, when the final decision was being made and olivia said dad, this is what you really want to do then that is what you should do and we will support you. about five minutes leaders-- later she said by the way, you have to quit your job on the city council and i said yes. quiet and she said, so do i need to get a job. [laughter] there's no interest like self interests. [laughter] so, they are all in and we are starting to assemble this team and we get this office at 123 south broad street, about 500 square feet. aaron is down there and then this redhead guy comes in the office one day and i said who is that and i was with butler.

maybe it's dissipated a bit over time but, i mean, it was pretty clear he was not from west philly. a little british accent. he came here to go to school and some well found his way to me. he was involved in politics in the uk. we are sitting in our little 500 square-foot office with plenty of space and is suddenly like people are coming to volunteer. we had to move to 42 south 15 and in the operation became bigger, but no one thought we could win. >> and of course, you had a secret surprise on your side. i have a video screen here for a reason. i hope it works and if it does, roll it. >> olivia nutter, this is my dad

this is the house my dad grew up in west philadelphia. this is our dog. this is my favorite food. a he's pretty cool for an old guy. this is where i go to middle school. my dad is the only democrat for mayor with a child in the public schools. i know he wants to make them better and safer. my dad is pretty busy these days , but he still finds time to take me to school. >> have a good day. be good. [applause]. >> you know, like you i paid attention for a long time. i don't think there has ever been and i should not limit it to philadelphia but i don't remember any commercial with the impact of that in the male world race. talk about it-- intimate world race. >> this is all the campaign group in their work. neil oxman and jj.

had this one thought that, i mean, i started and this is not my forte at all, but i had this thought that we need to design a handout, piece of literature, something with family or quotes or something and play around with that and they reminded me especially neil and he's very quiet and unassuming kind of person and your must-have to ask him to speak up sometimes. [laughter] [inaudible] >> there he is. >> i'm just waiting to see how long it would take. he reminded me and his unique way that this is not what i do, but took it for me anyway and they came back and said now, we think we can turn this into something else. you have a family, i mean, and

everything is true. i did take her to school everyday. may have been the last time everyone looked like that. [laughter] i really do have a wife. we have a dog. that was our house. i owned a car. and they just came back and here it is and we ran-- she's in the back. i think we ran 10 other ads or shot 10 others and most of them played. about is pretty much the only one that anyone remembers. i think it ran for may be weak 10 days and came back at the end for a different purpose. it told a story and defined me or redefined me, not the nerdy

warden guy, the policy one from city council, hardcharging maybe never smiles enough, all of that too he has a family, grew up in a row house, his daughter goes to public school, he cares and he takes her to school every day. it's meant a lot of different things to a lot of different people depending on who they were, black, white, latino, asian, young, older. it did change the dynamics of the race's event before i move on from the commercial and not just because she is here, give us all the olivia update. >> well, so for a lot of folks she is not 12 anymore. [laughter] people keep afscme did she graduate from high school, yeah. olivia graduated in may from columbia university. [applause]. through the help of some good friends in politics, she's now a

staff assistance on the senate's small business and entrepreneur committee on the democratic side in washington. [applause]. >> congrats. >> the only nutter and public service. >> it's like running my radio show, i have to be mindful of the plot because i could keep you all night and at a certain point i will surrender to questions. this is a lightning round. seven questions, bang, bang, bang-- actually not even questions, just thoughts. number one, bob brady announced he's not seeking reelection. [laughter] >> you know, we are not supposed to die in these jobs and i think

there is a whole generational shift going on in the city and across the country. it's time for a bunch of new people to run for office. >> the rizzo statute belongs? >> somewhere else. [applause]. >> i would be derelict if i did not but this on the list, eagles pats. >> eagles. [applause]. >> i listened as we all listened to your introduction. ipad i had a lot of things going on here. you have a lot of careers. favorite post may oral gig is what? >> opportunity to have a relationship that both university of pennsylvania and calamity: big university. i'm really enjoying teaching in the level of engagement with students and faculty and for me it's been the best kind of transition. around the city it's a big

bureaucratic place with a lot of rules and regulations, college institutions lots of rules and regulations, the differences i'm not in charge. [laughter] clec last night dolch as per state of the union. >> disaster. >> the speech or the state of the union? >> speech i mean book-- look, my most partisan, and, i mean, there is something materially wrong with him. the country has been through worse and if folks get off their but and get out and vote in 2018 or make a difference in congress and change the presidency in 2020. >> two more quick once. mayor jim kenney spirit doing his job. you know, i mean, i would be remiss if i didn't acknowledge at least if i was supposedly

sneaking in that side, i mean, it was don swarts is idea that we propose a sugar sweetened beverage tax in the city of philadelphia and i think it is that level of again innovation and foresight that has now led to put the litigation aside, you know, the success in 2016. focus on universal pre-k. another issue all of us cared deeply about during my tenure and so, i mean, there are a lot of things going on in the city of philadelphia that, i mean, we try to leave the city in better shape than we found it and i think the mayor is capitalizing on those things and then he has his own initiatives. >> final lightning round question. michael nutter in 10 years. >> first, i would like to be here. [laughter] i will be 70, so i will 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 with politics and teaching and by that point i might slow down a bit, but i believe in being active. >> are you done running for office yourself? >> yes. part of it is why that's the title of the book. there is no other office that i'm really interested in. there is no other office that you can have the impact and kinds of things and people i talked to. i could name folks all night long, but there are certain things we are very very proud of your queen save people's lives from a public standpoint. more kids graduated from high school and went on to college and graduated from there. more people working. buildings are still going up. i broke ground on a bunch of

those buildings when i was in office and i think we did in proof the ethical culture of the city of philadelphia. there aren't many jobs in politics that you can have that kind of impact and as part of what i love it and the got to work with. fantastic public service. >> is one of the attractions in the recent it's the best job in politics that you are free of some of the ideological entanglements that say a member of the house or senate would face that you quote the very famous yellow arrow to tell everyone what that is. is it just making the trains run on time or the thought-- ideology kickin? >> i would not call it ideology and maybe we are splitting hairs, but it's about a governing philosophy. i was just at the us conference for mayors last week you don't hear conversation about democratic position or republican position on the structure, public safety, on

whether kids are getting an education, clean water, sustainability all of these issue, i mean, you have as many republican mayors as democratic mayors, so you just don't have time for a lot of nonsense and, i mean, the parties take positions in all that. you have to make sure there is water running through the pipes and a professional shows up at a 911 call and strategy trikes-- strikes. you don't have much time for philosophical debate. if there is 15 inches of snow outside and i know c-span is here and i love them, but, i mean, i can't go make a speech on c-span and think something will result from that. people do that at 3:00 a.m. back home to the constituents. mayors can't do that. you either move the story didn't. you either move my trash or you didn't pick the place either runs well or it doesn't. that's my job.

>> day one you called a crime emergency. you were benefited by a then the relatively new police commissioner in chocolate emc, but that was a priority of yours from day one until the end. >> again, a bit of back story, in the early 2000 new york and a bunch of other places and new york have been on this incredible downward trend in terms of homicide, but other big cities across the country their numbers were going out-- down and ours was going up and i thought we could do something about it and made it the centerpiece of the campaign. marable mike bloomberg says you can't have a great city people don't feel safe and that was a growing concern. it was a daily counter on the front page of one of the newspapers about the level of homicides in the city, so i took that on as a major issue and we fought some battles about it, but the facts are the facts. first year, 15% reduction in homicides, 30% over the eight

year period. >> in the spring 2008 you experienced a emotional high emotional lows within a close time. we will deal with the highs first. march 31, 2008, you 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 45000 people on opening day in philadelphia. [laughter] we make a sport of torturing elected officials at sporting events unfortunately was three months and. i really had not done anything to anyone so people in how much reason to be upset with me. mostly with jordan's works probably about two weeks of practice and some visits to the ballpark. >> for one throw? >> one throat. >> but, it paid off for you.

>> i threw a strike. >> unfortunately, sad note may 3, 2008, a sergeant-- you seen the book nothing, absolutely nothing prepares you for that moment. >> it's true. i was in city hall between events we got a call officer had been shot. we had no details, but the word was kind of stay put. about 10 minutes later another call, you need to get to the hospital. i mean, 6000 plus police officers and i had only been mayor for a little while, but nonetheless welcome the family as people are running income officers, it was a very chaotic scene and the other part of that the three people in the botched robbery one day one in custody and one in the wind.

he was hit with a ak-47 that nearly took a moment-- 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 did make it, i mean, there's you could say. there's nothing you can do, but you have to because it's your obligation to be there for that family, for the relatives, for the officers and to see that scene and these brave men and women in uniform literally breaking down in tears and you are standing in the middle of it with people looking for leadership, looking for direction, i had never experienced anything like that in my life and is very jolting. fortunately, commissioner ramsey

was there, clay was there, chief of staff, deputy mayor and other folks and they really supported me as i tried to throw out support to others. 2008, in that regard, i mean, it was a very rough year. we lost four police officers killed in the line of duty, the most of any major city in the country. very painful. you never get over it, but in the moment it's not about you it's about them and you have to be there for them. but, there is nothing to prepare you for that. >> there were many instances during the course of your mail already where you were known for being very blunt and spoken and when he read about the book in the context of flash mobs this was a speech he delivered at a baptist church where you are member. i turned to the parents and told him bluntly get your act together, raise your own kids, nowhere they are.

i had a particular message for the fathers in the black community, you are not a father just because you have a kid or two or three. that doesn't make your father, a father is a person who is around to participate in a child's life, a teacher to guide in shape and mold that young person , someone for that young person to talk to, to share with, there ups there down their fears the concerns. if you are not doing that you are what the girls call out in the street 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 the pastor well and the members, i mean, that was a message, i mean, that's an old school conversation. that safe-- i mean, 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 congregation. i think it was fairly well-received in a variety of places. i'm sure there was some folks who didn't like it having you can't get away from that, but, i mean, i just think as they are 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 particularly significant impact in black community i would get criticized for talking about pilots in the black community and my position was if i have kids dying in the street i have to say something about it and i'm going to challenge any of you on your behavior. whatever your disputes may be,

there is nothing that justifies you walking up and shooting someone in the head, nothing. >> if i had not read the book i might have missed spoken and called it a sugar tax or soda tax, but now i know i'm supposed to state sugar sweetened beverage tax to make yes. >> why so important? >> well, i mean, i guess there are some purists out there. that's what it is and that's what it was targeted to be, the colloquial-- it would be easier because we like to shorten things, so soda tax. look, i don't have some personal vendetta with the soda folks, i mean, it is possibly the least nutritious, possibly the most worthless product ever created. [laughter] but, it's not personal. [laughter] it's 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 work on and if so we were pretty aggressive about it for two reasons. one, it is a very serious health issue and second, the first go around the city needed the money and the second go around that school district needed the money , but at the time at least the rocking it-- like a by the industry that they were at least a contributor to the problem that may have generated some extra aggressive activity from. >> on going to move on keeping on ion the clock to audience questions, but i have one more. whether it appears in the book or not, coming a story story about the public. you had some interesting experiences relative to securing that. give me something. >> well, first,.

[inaudible] more importantly, i have just never met anyone that had such a warmth and spirits about themselves who was so focused on other people that behind the scenes discussion, i mean, what people saw and the excitement and pageantry of three different outdoor events and independence hall, but i think for me one of the most moving moments was one that was maybe not as visible to a lot of folks, which was the visit to our prison. pope francis personally insisted that the visit to the prison had to be on his schedule and there were a lot of naysayers back and forth and even some of his own folks were concerned and he said i guess you could say this when

you are the pope, this is what i'm going to do work and a conversation. the inmates were thrilled. they made a chair for him, which the pope insisted be taken back. i'm not sure what he flies, but the chair went back to rome and again he's one of these folks, the folks that were trying to move him along and he just resists any efforts for people to interfere with his ability to connect with someone in a very personal and direct way, i mean, totally personal. >> two questions came from the audience pertaining amazon. one, what would be the pluses and minuses if philadelphia were to win-- maybe i should not put the cart before the horse, what should philadelphia do now to market itself that regard? >> well, that is always, i mean,

i am tremendously sensitive to successors trying to publicly give advice to currents and also i am so far away from kind of the inside story on what the city is trying to do. much broader sense, i mean, obviously amazon and 50000 jobs and whatever the economic development benefits are-- i don't know what they are seeking for themselves, but it would be a tremendous boost to not just philadelphia, but a minimum the tri-state area. i think the issue seems to be where. name: shelley have a number of potential locations and we have kind of position ourselves that way. since i don't know what amazon is actually asking for i would say

any of the 20 cities now on the short list just be mindful of if that ends up being your deal with one particular company, does that put you out of position-- at a position to attract other positions or set you up that everyone will want the same thing if they come forward with a big announcement. >> great question. what's been the most challenging aspect of your transition from public to more private life? >> well, first is i think just realizing the true recognition that it's really kind of over and so you know, some people know i bought a tahoe before i was elected. we donated it to the city and that's what i wrote around it and it had tremendous police protective detail for

eight years. didn't have a car and pretty much only wrote in that car unless i went somewhere with lisa. the tradition is after leaving office you get basically another six months to transition, but everyone goes away and you keep one officer, so the agreement was because we were hosting the democratic national convention in 2016, normally would've been at the end of june and the agreement was it would be right after the end of the convention, so republican gets a big speech thursday-- and it's over on friday. take care. have a nice life. we have enjoyed you. goodbye. so, i spent a lot of time and other people's vehicles. [laughter]

so, but the real moment that you know is really this one. , but columbia and it's just like april of 2016 and there was something going on back in philadelphia, so my class was to the afternoon until about 4:00 p.m., so i called one of those companies and i'm trying to catch the 5:00 p.m. train at penn station from columbia university at 4:00 p.m. i bolted out the door in the thing says my car is there. i come out the door and jump in the vehicle. we are going on and go down to the end of the block make a right and new york city has like this really long block, i guess that the news.

so we get about half way and the guys phone rang and hedoes the person says where are you and he said leaving any terms or looks at me. i got the wrong car. [laughter] so i'm in new york and he turns around and says well like you have to get out. [laughter] sorry. i had been traveling so everyone knows my little backpack, but i had some luggage, so i get out and i call the women;-- i get my phone and i said i got the wrong car can you come get me and he said where are you and i look up and there's this long block with no street sign and i said i don't know where i am and he said well, then i can't come get you. [laughter] so, locked down to the end of the block and it's 110 and columbus

avenue and it was in that moment that i said i'm just another guy. [laughter] standing on a street corner at 110 and columbus and made not a soul out here gives a damn. it's over. [laughter] [applause]. >> you're most proud of the fact using the book of decline in homicide rates and the increase in high school graduations. if you wish one more thing would have occurred, it would have been done that you had done even better in that regard? >> better in both because for me both were always tied together. that if we did a better job, educating our young people and young adults and if they had more opportunity and if more went on to higher learning, return to

school, good alternative schools that educational attainment actually has an impact on crime. i get asked that question. i am proud of the two positives and it disappointed in that we were not able to accomplish even more. our kids deserve a high-quality education and deserve the opportunity to go on and fulfill their potential and the city is held back by lack of educational attainment. above my scrip of the poverty that holds of so many people back. the number of folks that are returning citizens still find challenging to get a job and the changing nature of our economy and skills mismatched between jobs

available at skills people have and they are still not able to find employment, so the thing about in philly as compared to boston, chicago and a few other places, to term limits. you do what you can and time it's your most precious resource and we try to do the best we could with what we had. i have an incredible team, which made all the difference in the world and you pass the baton and someone else gets to run the rest of the race. >> a great law-enforcement question from the audience, wider policeman always when an arbitration after they are fired? >> so, first, i mean, i have to say they don't always win, but, i mean, there is a pretty high success rates. i think the biggest part of it is the arbitrators

is a limited pool of arbitrators. in many instances, they are agreed upon by both sides and i think the arbitrators are very cognitive, many of them of the fact that if they are not somewhat favorable to the aggrieved officers that they will never get picked again. that's it. >> two final questions for mayor nutter. number one,-- did i just was my microphone? comment on the challenges of keeping corruption out of governments. >> well, first it's a daily focus, daily exercise. it is to some extent unlike many other components of the government, so if you're

in a apartment any philly pothole and it's kind of done for now and we will revisit that maybe 10 years down the road. we pick up folks trash once a week. you give someone a building permit, they're gone. till they come back to build another building. people are people. you know, someone right now somewhere in this city is probably trying to figure out how to do something that they should not be doing and so it is a constant efforts, constant barrage of folks tried to do bad things and having again during my time folks like joe markman and. [inaudible] and you know integrity august-- officers all across the government knowing that they would always be backed up and this is how we are going to run the place and we will not tolerate this kind of nonsense. i think it sends the right message. people still did stuff.

almost all of them got caught and got in trouble and we publicized it, i mean, it's not worth it and i think that did help clean the place up, but, i mean, it's never over. its relentless tickets everyday and you have to preach that to the troops into the public, i mean, i would remind folks it takes two to tango and call on the public from time to time stop trying to corrupt our people. there was one of our biggest ones was a guy was selling-- over buying toner for the city and then selling it to a company and i believe arkansas. he lost his job, went to jail, husband-and-wife of the business 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.

>> toner. >> toner. >> toner is expensive. >> i don't know what it is. [laughter] >> you are going to sign a number of 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. >> it's kind of funny said and his latest book and i'm standing back there thinking it's his only book. [laughter] i said in an interview the other day, i mean, of all the things i thought i might do, writing a book was not one. it's been mentioned a number of times, lisa has talked to me about it and our former director of communications talk to me about it and my first response was i don't know anything about writing a book and i don't have time to write a book and i don't know anything about writing a book. but, peter and a bunch of folks over at penn

press talked to me about it and, i mean, at least for this they made it pretty easy. this started spring of last year. i gave a series of lectures at the university of pennsylvania, which were all videotapes and then transcribed hence part one, part two, part three because i did three lectures. then, they found a tremendous writer, pamela hage, who worked with me. all of the language is mine. it's out of my mouth, nothing manufactured or created, but, i mean, there is a way of writing and i don't think anyone would want to read what i actually wrote because i write like i talk, so there's a craft to that.

this was not some out of the 1950s with me sitting at a typewriter, i mean, that book would take like 40 years. [laughter] then, no one would really be interested in that, so the three lectures, some manuscripts, readings, a couple interviews over the course of last summer and literally off to the races and now you got a book seem at ladies and gentlemen, met-- "mayor: the best job in politics" michael nutter. [applause]. [applause]. >> is this still on? thank you all for coming out. it's kind of one of these things where like

you don't know if anyone will show up. [laughter] so embarrassing. to all the folks in the administration, thank you, thank you, thank you. i think this is the first time we've had an opportunity to have so many of you together and my major: out of the night was just not to cry. what an experience. thank you. [applause]. [inaudible conversations] >> several mayors have appeared on the tv over the years including harold moss tacoma washington's first african-american mayor. vincent buddy junior, former mayor providence

rhode island he was removed from office and spent time in federal prison on racketeering conspiracy charges and mayor carolyn goodman, current mayor of las vegas. the wife of former mayor oscar goodman in the second one to hold that office. you could watch any of these mayors and many others online at the book tv.org. type mayor book into the search bar at the top of the page. >> now on book tv, retired rear admiral michael giorgione provides a history of camp david and reflects on his tenure as commanding officer of the presidential retreat. >> we may not be thinking so favorably about our government-- government leaders at this time, but a more productive times we're fascinated about how things happened behind-the-scenes. called american diplomacy secret weapon camp david which