[inaudible conversations] >> good evening i'm the vice president and coo at the national constitution center it is my great pleasure to welcome you here to tonight's program. before we welcome our guests to the stage of like to share information about her upcoming programs. we will host a number of speakers and engage in conversational on the constitution a february 5 a sweeping discussion how the right to bear arms interpreted

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nonpartisan mission to bring people together of all ages to learn about the debate to celebrate the constitution now it is my pleasure to introduce to great friends of the constitution center elected mayor 2007 in philadelphia serving two terms esquire magazine named him american of the year in public official of the year by governing magazine in 2014 and executive fellow at the university pennsylvania school of policy and a professor of professional practice at urban and public affairs at columbia and joins us today to discuss his latest book mayor. the best job in politics which he will sign copies knowing the discussion. we are pleased to welcome our moderator tonight michael's

program is on serious xm a newspaper columnist and an author msnbc contributor and frequent guest host with chris matthews prior to turning to broadcasting full-time he practiced law ten years with the namesake of the beasley school of law at temple university please join me to welcome michael and mike nutter. [applause] >> good evening good evening. mayor, the best job in politics. why is that? >> you can see the value and

impact of your work to change people's lives and it's a lot of fun. >> is it fair to say if you could master the periodic table you never would have pursued a career in politics? [laughter] >> it is but there is at one point i did not give a damn i went to penn with a biomedical engineering major at med school and it became very clear and much like an auditorium like this but bigger that that you could sit really wanted now the first three exams it was clear i was not passing the course and really i did not give a damn about the table of elements and you will not be a doctor.

>> but then you had to go to wharton so how do you achieve that? >> this is being recorded. [laughter] so it was a long torturous path 95% torture created by myself not being the most studious person but i started to work at the nightclub probably working 60 hours a week studying me be 60 minutes so i tried to leave engineering school but there is no future there for me wharton denied my application

because i could not keep a full course load so engineering school found out that if you do that again and you are not successful we will kick you out okay. so then i said i do want to go to wharton and take a course of study for entrepreneurial management of the faculty of arts and sciences so i never declared a major i kept taking wharton horses then they said you are not a wharton student if you don't get yourself together we will kick you out of school. [laughter] so i finally got a little more serious about my work i did take a number of courses multiple times. [laughter] so may 1979 i was six courses

short of graduating for some bizarre reason they let me walk and my mom was thrilled and why they were so excited because there was summer school tomorrow but maybe i had agreement with the dean of undergraduate you have six courses and will not graduate this year he said if you achieve a certain average than you are good to go and i was right on the number. so now you are in and you are out. goodbye nice knowing you. [laughter] >> sold the attack did mayor mike learn anything from mixmaster mike anything that apply to your governance?

>> possibly some of the best training because at the club i met a lot of people and i shook a lot of hand and i had to remember a lot of people. every now and then you might have to throw somebody out i'm not the biggest guy so i had to learn people skills how to nicely put somebody out of the nightclub and as mayor i met a lot of people come i shook a lot of hands. [laughter] had to remember a lot of folks and put some people out. >> so talk about those political battles that you waged over the years let's begin with 282 votes who was she and what happened? >> minsky was a committee person from the second ward i was with councilman john

anderson seeking reelection 1982 and i made the decision so i went down to food or registration as a wharton school graduate i was all about data and information and congressional analysis to figure this out so i wanted to understand there are three apartment buildings and the other two had more senior residents. so 1898 date of birth, 1901, 1905, so i realized it was an old constituency and i was in my early 20s and they were apartment buildings. so there were days i would literally wait until somebody came out of the building and

then realize maybe i could go in this way or knock on people's doors which we are not supposed to do but i knew virtually no one she knew everybody committee people ran every two years now it is every four years so i ran again and got a little closer but but it would take 20 or 25 years so another big political decision is i moved. [laughter] >> funny how you never forget the lessons from that first campaign i ran for the state legislature in fox county i lost by 419 votes i located 236 of those. [laughter] so you get elected to city council and one of your first

initiatives ahead of your time living in this era of black lives matter was the formation of police advisory commission. how come? >> there was a series of events prior to my time at city council that i legitimately had done a bunch of research on this issue for city council for this term in it just seemed at the time once a complaint went in it went nowhere so full lost confidence credibility with investigations or path that was similar like new york in particular was controversial but i put it forward and the mayor at the time the former district attorney really hated it a lot.

that was september 1992 when i introduce that legislation seven or eight my into the job creating this controversy the president at the time was very supportive with a lot of battles back and forth we passed the bill 11/six but to give credit there were a lot of behind the scenes conversations that made clear to and the controversy because the then councilman changed his vote and then the bill passed 12/five. >> am not giving away the whole book for free i want people to buy the book but a number of the stories i do want to pull from but you

expressed regret for your position initially on domestic partnership so talk about dealing with that in this book. >> i don't think it was very well-known at the time the council man anderson was gay. this is not the totally loving city that we are today socially in the late 70s early '80s but i saw and experienced the impact that that status had politically with the comments that were made and developed great tiffany to those challenges to

the community but the politics are complicated because i was pushing the police advisory commission at the same time the councilman was pushing for domestic partnership so he was very much in favor of the commission but then i got caught in a mistake not to separate those two things in the way that i should have and with those feelings i didn't do anything to undermine the council man but i felt personally i was not as supportive as i could have been because i didn't want to jeopardize the vote ended up

not going anywhere at the time but in that moment i said this would be resolved i would be the person to do it. >> so one example with the councilman wise as i look back at your record on the year 2000 with the smoking ban was the first initiative of this scale or scope that was a significant achievement for a young council man. >> yes. later in my career a lot of credit goes to the governor who was working at a firm doing a lot of consulting rather than completely torture with my cooking so i pass the restaurant the other day but we were sitting there to have

paper and drawings that she observed there was a man smoking in a restaurant and said he is smoking doesn't he know that's bad for him? i said yes but some people do that she went back to drawing and then she said i you on the city council? what you going to do about it. [laughter] she was five years old. not a lot i can say after that. [laughter] yes i guess i need to do something about it so we started journey and it took six years and it was one of the last bills that i voted on before resigning to run for mayor. >> the police advisory commission the smoking ban campaign finance reform smoking ban campaign finance reform that was a lot of work but i was make it a point the

first campaign finance law was passed by virginia right after the 2003 election and we remember a lot of things from the 2003 election but it was also clear there was concerns about campaign finance and how the government was functioning finance and how the government was functioning, early december the legislation came through the council passed it anyway and then subsequently i did another piece with different restrictions and contracts with legislation if you did this only a certain amount of attribution rules and then subsequently i read

every indictment of sequential that 2003 election with numerous amendments based on updated indictment of the federal government coming forward and clark county i think it was one of those moments only that kind of crisis we had ever gotten that kind of legislation passed 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. >> as you look back now what does michael nutter think of the effort to cast that as

john ashcroft trying to dictate the outcome? >> now we know that that story was a complete fabrication but in the moment it worked. but many of us knew that is really what was going on it was a heavily democratic city if they didn't like president bush they certainly didn't like john ashcroft so there was a narrative already made two or three days after that story everything was radio silently could figure out what was going on then they played out that scenario. >> you point out in the book a lot of people forgot the margin in that cycle was cast

and bigger than four years prior. >> yes. with the 99 race margin was 9401 of the closest in modern history and then they won by 85000 it was an absurd number based on this whole fiction created about the republicans in washington trying to take down the black democratic mayor of philadelphia which then needs to the republicans winning pennsylvania in 2004 that was their theory which made no sense. >> summer 2006? you run for council i was

surprised maybe i knew at the time but i had forgotten what a shoestring operation was at the outset of your campaign. >> we may have borrowed some shoestring. [laughter] may 2006 we take a poll for city council. it was a well-known firm nationally recognized pollsters and they said basically the matter who runs you can't win. i said, should should be pay for that? [laughter] to go back and forth but then in the end they said what you

think and he said difficult. not impossible. okay. . . . . a you can do it. there's a lot of conversations about that. there was one discussion where the final decision was being made and if this is really what

you want to do then you should and i will support you. about five minutes later she said by the way, you have to quit your job. do i need to get a job? [laughter] we started assembling this team and at the office of one to three broad street. this guy comes into the office one day and i said was that maybe it's dissipated a little bit over time but he wasn't from west philly.

he somehow found his way to the politics over in the uk. so we are sitting in our office with plenty of space and suddenly people are coming to volunteer that we have to move and then the operation is much bigger. >> of course you had a secret surprise. i had a video screen here for a reason. i hope it works. my dad grew up in west philadelphia. this is our dog. this is where i go to middle school.

my dad ran for mayor with a child in public schools. i know he wants to make it better and safer. he's pretty busy these days but still finds time to take me to school. >> have a good day. [applause] like you, i've paid attention for a long time and i shouldn't limit it to philadelphia but i don't remember any commercial with the impact of that in the race. it isn't my forte at all but just a handout, piece of literature or something to start

playing around with that and they reminded me especially very quiet, unassuming kind of person you almost have to ask him to speak up sometimes. [laughter] i was just trying to wait to see how long it would take. it reminded me in this way and they came back and said we think we can turn this into something else. i do take her to school every day. it may have been the last time the room looked like that.

i do have a wife, dog, owned a car. they came back and said here it is. we ran ten other ads and that is pretty much the only one anyone remembers. i think it ran for maybe a week or ten days and came back at the end for a different purpose. it told a story and declined me or redefined me as a policy city council meetin maybe never smile enough, all of that too he has a family that grew up in a house with public school and he cares and takes us to school every

day. it's meant a lot of different things to a lot of different people depending on who they were. it did change the dynamics of the race. >> before i move on from the commercial come and not just because she is here, give us an update. >> so, she is not 12 anymore. [laughter] people keep asking hasn't she graduated from high school yet. she graduated in may from columbia university. [applause] and through to the help of some good friends she's now a staff assistant on the senate small business entrepreneur committee on the democratic side in washington. [applause]

it's like running my radio show. i have to be mindful because i could keep you all night, and at a certain point i'm going to surrender to questions that have come from the audience. this is a lightning round. seven questions. actually, not even questions, just thoughts and i want to hear what you have to say about them and then i will move into your beer reality. -- mayor reality. [inaudible] [laughter] >> we are not supposed to die in these jobs. i think there is a generational shift going on in the country right now. it's not just a bunch of people running. there is a statute that belongs

to. you have a lot of careers. favorite post may or obeyed debate co. is what? a >> the opportunity to have a relationship that folks in the university of pennsylvania and columbia university. im enjoying teaching in the level of engagement which students and faculty for me it's been the best kind of transiti transition. it was the city is a place with a lot of rules and regulations, a bureaucratic place with a lot of rules and regulations. the difference, i'm not in charge. >> last night donald trump,

first state of the union. >> disaster. >> the speech or the state of the union? >> the speech. >> book, he is, in my most partisan comment, there is something materially wrong with him and we will make a difference in congress. >> two more quick ones if i didn't acknowledge at least i was supposedly speaking in the side. it was the idea that we propose a sugar sweetened beverage tax in philadelphia, and i think it

is that level of innovation and foresight that has led to the litigation aside and focus on universal pre- k. with another issue all of us care deeply about. there are a lot of things going on in the city of philadelphia that we try to leave the city in better shape than we found it and i think the mayor is capitalizing on those things and has his on initiative. >> michael nutter in ten years. >> first, i would like to be here. i will be 70. 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 in

politics. i might slow down just a little bit, but i believe in being active. >> are you done running for office yourself? >> yes. part of that is why it is the title of the book because there is no other office i'm interested in. there is no other office you can have the impact because of the kind of things i talked about. there are certain things we are very proud of. i think we did in includes the ethical culture.

there are not that many that can have that impact them and the family that i got to work with. >> it's one of the attractions and jobs in politics that you are free of some of the ideological entanglements that is a a member of the house or senate 40s. you quoted the famous [inaudible] talk about what that is coming and does the ideology kicking? >> i wouldn't call the ideology. it is just about a governing philosophy. i was at the u.s. conference of mayors last week and you don't hear the conversation about the democratic position or republican position on infrastructure on public safety on where the kids are getting an education, clean water, sustainability. you have as many republican mayors like the block grant program as democratic so they

don't have time for a lot of nonsense. and they take positions on all that. you've got to make sure there is water running through the pipes is a professional shows up when tragedy strikes, every one kind of does come together and that is what governing is about at the local level. you don't have much time for philosophical debates. 15 inches of snow outside, i know c-span is here and i love them. to think something is going to result from that but people do that at 3:00 in the morning. the mayors can't do that. you either picked up my trash or you didn't. the place is running well or it's not. >> the number one you called it a crime emergency. you were benefited by an event, relatively new police commissioner but that was a priority of yours from day one until the end.

in new york and a bunch of other places it's been on this incredible downward trend in terms of their homicides within a bunch of others across the country the numbers are going down and ours is still going up. it made the centerpiece of the campaign. you can have a great city if people don't feel safe and that was a concern. there was a daily counter on the front page of one of the newspapers about the level of homicides so i took that on as a major issue and he has some battles about it at the facts are facts. 15% reduction, over the a.q. period. >> in the spring of 2008 you experienced the emotional highs and lows within a very close tim period. we will deal with the highest first, march, 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 on opening day in philadelphia. we make a sport of torturing officials. fortunately it was three months in and they haven't done anything to anybody so they didn't have a reason to be upset with me. mostly with jordan probably about two weeks of practice and a couple of them in the ballpark for the one throw. a very sad note may 3, 2008. you said in the book nothing, absolutely nothing prepares you for that moment.

>> we had no details but work was just kind of staying put. we have 6,000 plus police officers and i've only been mayor for a little while. but none the less, welcoming family of people running and the officers, it was a very chaotic scene and there were three people in a botched robbery, one in custody and one in the wind. to experience those family

members and be in the room when the doctor comes in and says he didn't make it. there's nothing you can say or do. to see that as brave men and women in uniform breaking down and you are standing in the middle of it i've never experienced anything like that in my life. they supported me as i tried to

provide support to others. in 2008 in that regard there were police officers killed in the line of duty, very painful. you never get over it. but in that moment, it's not about you, it's about them. but there's nothing to prepare you for it. >> there were many instances you are known for being very outspoken. raise your own kids, nowhere theknow wherethey are and had ar message for the community you are not a father just because the kid or two or three. if offer 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 to talk to, to share with their ups and downs, fears and concerns. if you are not doing that, you are what else on the street they called baby daddy. what reaction did you get from all communities in a speech? >> in the church -- i mean, which i anticipated because i knew the pastor well and the members -- that is an old-school conversation kind of discussion. parishioners are more in that it would be supportive of that kind of message. i wasn't always talking to the congregants. i think it was fairly well

received in a variety of places. and i'm sure there were some folks who didn't like it. you can't get away from that. but i think as the mayor especially it is very important to be truthful and honest about some of the challenges and ills that have a particularly significant impact in the community. for talking about violence in the community by position was if i have kids dying in the street, i have to say something about it. and i will challenge any of you on your behavior. whatever your disputes navy. there's nothing that justifies, nothing. nothing. i haven't read the book i might have misspok misspoken and calla sugar tax or so the attacks but i don't know if i'm supposed to

say sugar sweetened beverage tax. how come, why some important facts >> i guess because that's what it is. that's what it was targeted to be because we like to shorten things, so so the tax. i don't have some personal vendetta with the soda folks. it's probably the least nutritious probably the most worthless product ever created. [laughter] but i mean, it's not personal. it's been shown to be a component on the level of overweight and obese conditions across america. we have a particular challenge here in philadelphia at the 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 and second, the first go around the city needed the money into the second, the school district needed the money. but i think at the time at least it is a lack of recognition that they were at least a contributor to the problem that we have generated some extra aggressive activity for me. >> i'm going to move on to audience questions. whether it appears in the book or not tell me a story about the pope. they were relative to securing that is if you give me something. >> first com, they run 90 feet . but more importantly, i never met anyone that had such a warm thanks. about themselves who were so

focused on other people that behind the scenes discussion with people saw in the course of the excitement. and of conversation. so, they were thrilled they made a chair for him which they

insisted be taken back. the chair went back and again the folks are trying to move him along and resist any effort from people to interfere with its ability to connect with someone in a very personal and a direct way. >> two questions came from the audience pertaining to amazon. what would be the pluses and minuses of philadelphia were to win. maybe i should have put this one first what should philadelphia be doing now to try to market itself in that regard? >> well, you know, that's always -- i am tremendously sensitive to successors trying to publicly give advice and i'm so far away

enough the story of the city is trying to do. but in a broad sense obviously amazon and wherever the economic benefits are and i don't know what they are seeking for themselves, but it would be a tremendous boost not just philadelphia but certainly around the tri-state area i think the issue seems to be where we have a number of potential locations and we kind of position ourselves that way. since i don't know what amazon is actually asking for i would say to any of the cities that are now on the short list, just be mindful if that ends up being your deal with one particular company does that put you out of

the position to attract other businesses or possibly set you up that everyone is going to want the same thing if they come forward with a big announcement. >> what has been the most challenging aspect of your transition from public to more private life? >> first is just realizing the true recognition that's kind of overt and so some people know i bought a tahoe before i was elected and that's where we had a tremendous police for eight years, didn't have a car and pretty much only road in that car unless it went somewhere with lisa. that tradition is after leaving office and get basically another

six months to kind of transition that everyone 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 they could pick speech thursday night and it's over on friday. take care, have a nice life, we enjoyed you, goodbye. [laughter] so i spent a lot of time in other people's vehicles. [laughter] but the real moment that you know is this one. so i'm up at columbia and its

april 2016 there was something going on back in philadelphia, so it was to two in the afternon until about four, i called one of those companies trying to catch the 5:00 train. i cannot door and jump in the vehicle and we are going on and they have these long blocks circuiting halfway and the phone rings and he says where are you. what do you mean? then he turns around and looks at me.

i got in the wrong car. so he turns around and says you have to get out. [laughter] and i've been traveling, so i had some luggage and i get out. so i called the one bits in my phone, she answers and i said i'm sorry i got in the wrong car can you come get me. where are you. there were no street signs. i said i don't know where i am. he says that i cannot come get you. [laughter] so i walked down to the end of the block and its 100 attend and columbus avenue and it was in that moment that i said i'm just another guy standing on a street corner at 100 attend and

columbus and there isn't a soul out here that cares. [laughter] [applause] you were most proud of the fact you said in the book of the climate homicide rate and increasing high school graduations. if you wish one more thing would have occurred from your being mayor it would have been that you could have done even better in that regard. >> better in both because for me, both were always inextricably tied together that if we did a better job educating our young people and young adults and they have more opportunity, more to hire a graduate from high school and return to school from go to alternative schools, then the educational attainment actually has an impact on crime.

>> this was a high-quality education and they deserve the opportunity to fulfill their potential. the city is held back by lack of educational -- the vice grip of poverty that holds so many people back, the number of folks returning who still find it challenging to get a job. and the changing nature of our economy. in the skills mismatch between jobs available and skills people have on their still not able to find employment. the thing about failures compared to boston chicago and

other places you do what you can and time is your most precious resource. we try to do the best we could with what we have. i have an incredible teen which made all the difference in the world. you pass the baton and someone else gets to run the rest of the race. >> a great law-enforcement question from the audience, why did the policeman always when an arbitration after their fire. >> first, i'd have to say that they don't always win. there is a pretty high success rate. the biggest part is the arbitrators is a limit pool of arbitrators. in many instances they are agreed upon by both sides. the arbitrators are very

cognizant of the fact that if they're not somewhat favorable to the aggrieved officers they will never get picked again. that's it. >> it to final questions, number one comment on the challenges of keeping corruption out of government. >> it is a daily focus in exercise to some extent it's unlike many other components of the government. you fill a pothole of its done for now you revisit that maybe ten years down the road. we pick up trash once a week but when you empty that's it.

people are people. somebody right now somewhere in the city is trying to figure out how to do something they're not supposed to be doing. it's a constant effort and barrage of folks doing bad things. during my time integrity officers are requested knowing that i'll always be backed up and this is how were going to run the place and we will not tolerate this nonsense. i think it's an threat message. it's not worth it. i think it help clean the place up. it's never over.

it's relentless in everyday it takes two to tango. and cut on the public from time to time stop trying to crap people. one of our biggest ones guy was selling over buying -- for the city and then selling it to the company in arkansas. he lost his job and went to jail they were invited and went to jail and had a huge fine. >> toners expensive. >> you can assign a number of books in a few minutes. so take us out with a discussion

of your writing process. did you enjoy it, talk to me about it. >> this winter and they said in his latest book and like in his only book of all the things i thought i might to writing a book was not one of them. it has been mentioned in my first response is that i don't know anything about writing a book or have time and i don't thing about right in a book. but several folks agreed to talk to me about it at least for this, they made it easy. this started in spring of last

year and i gave a series of lectures at the university of pennsylvania which are videotaped and then transcribed. then there's a part one, part two imprint three then they found a tremendous writer who worked with me so all the languages mine, it's out of my mouth there's something manufactured or created but there is a way of writing i don't think anybody would want to read what i actually wrote. there is a craft to that. this wasn't something out of the 50s with me sitting at a typewriter. that book would take 40 years. no one would be interested in

it. the three lectures so many scription readings some interviews on their off to the races to write a book. >> later said gentlemen, michael nutter. [applause] [applause] ,. >> thank you for coming out. it's one of those things read of anybody's gonna show up. tell the folks in the administration, thank you. i think this is the first time

to have an opportunity to have so many up together. my main goal is just not to cry. it's just quite the experience. thank you

[inaudible conversations] >> good evening welcome. we are delighted to have eric motley who is here to share his story with us of medicine park please silence your cell