>> he could be the next mayor of philadelphia, but do you know who he is and what he stands for? this morning, for the very first time since winning the democratic primary for mayor jim kenney talks about all of it with us. a special edition of "inside story" starts right now. and a good sunday morning to you. i'm brian taff, and welcome to "inside story." you know, so many of you know jim kenney as a longtime city councilman, as an outspoken and frankly sometimes bluntly spoken man who says what he means. well, when it comes to becoming the next mayor of philadelphia he means business. earlier this month, his bid to become the mayor got a pretty huge boost when he won the democratic primary. and as we know, historically in this city, the democrat goes on to become the mayor of philadelphia. you've got one more fight in the form of republican melissa murray bailey.

we'll hear from her on this program next week. but first, today, this half-hour belongs to you, jim. and welcome to "inside story." >> thank you, brian. i appreciate it. thank you. >> good to have you here. you know, as we mentioned, a lot of people do know you by way of your résumé. longtime city councilman at large. but that doesn't mean they know who you are or necessarily what you stand for. outside of the realm of politics -- let's start here -- who is jim kenney? >> well, i'm a lifelong philadelphian. grew up in south philadelphia. lived in a very small row house in a very small street with six people and one bathroom. my father was a firefighter, and my mom worked both in the home and outside the home. so we all worked. we had pretty much a pretty good work ethic growing up, but served papers. i served the philadelphia inquirer in the morning and washed dishes at a restaurant and bused tables, tended bar, worked in a hospital, helped to support my way through college, my parents mostly paid for, but i worked to support that effort. and just grew up a regular person, hanging on the corner as a kid, hanging out in the playground, playing little league football and

hockey and just a regular south philadelphia existence growing up, and was lucky enough to go to st. joe's prep, which really molded my feeling and my spirit about people and about service, and then went to la salle university, which i commuted for two years and then lived on campus for two years and had pretty much a ethnic row house existence. >> yeah. you know, about your experience, obviously, some of your opponents in the democratic primary tried to use it to their advantage and to your disadvantage. and they said, "look, here's the knock on you." you're a city hall guy -- a "city hall guy." which essentially means that you have had your chance, you've had your crack to make change in this city, and that you're not the fresh face that they say the city needs. how do you respond to that criticism? >> well, i think that the experience that you gain in city council over almost 24 years of service is important. i think coming in from the outside totally fresh maybe isn't the best situation because you don't know the history, you don't know the

relationships, you don't know how the government works. so i think you need a little bit of mix of both. the mayor of philadelphia is a very powerful position. you appoint everybody to every position there is. and city council, your ability to be a change agent is limited because the mayor is such a powerful position. and there are things that i've seen over the course of my career that i want to change that i haven't been able to change as a council member and decided to run for mayor, which was a pretty momentous decision. i had to quit my job and, you know, not have a job and run for office. and i thought about running twice before and for various reasons decided not to, but i think that the situation presented itself in a way that made it right for the time and was very happy i did it. >> and, you know, what you alluded to there is that it's a risk, because in this city, you do have to quit your job on council and assume the risk of running for mayor. so if you lose, then you're out two jobs really. >> but, i mean, i think in the end, i mean, if i had run a really good race and lost, i

mean, i think the private sector would have been a pretty good opportunity for me to go in there. but, you know, god willing and everything aligning the right way, i did win, nd it wasn't all about me. it was about the team that i had assembled. it was about the coalition that we had put together. i mean, i am very, very humbled and awed by the amount of people and the types of people from every neighborhood in the city that supported this campaign effort and could not have done it without them. you know, i'm a smart guy, but i had a lot of smart people around me who helped me get there, and i'm very proud of the coalition we built. >> and we'll dive more into that coalition as this half-hour continues this morning, but let's talk about the issues, right? there is little doubt, i think and a lot of consensus that the biggest issue facing the city of philadelphia is education, right? and i think the story is well-known -- budget shortfalls year after year, classrooms with too many students and too few teachers, and the constant tug-of-war, really, between charter schools and traditional public schools. so as mayor -- and you do have the ability to effect some change here -- how do you even

begin to turn this around? >> i think, going back to your original statement about the biggest issue being education, it is, but the biggest issue is poverty. we are a large city in america that has the highest poverty rate of any large city in america, and we need to dial that down. and part of that is education. the need for pre-k education for 3- and 4-year-olds in our city is just extremely important. the need for blue-collar family-sustaining jobs, which we don't have, which we need to attract, is extremely important. and we have a population of our city that's incarcerated now for various reasons. either it's drug addiction or mental illness or, you know, lack of opportunity. and they're coming back to us every day, and we need to make sure we're ready for them so we can stop that trend of people failing in their lives, be able to make people meet the potential that god intended them to have and that use government as an agent to help people meet that potential. so i think it's not only

education, it's job opportunities. you know, it's re-entry. it's all those things that are very important to making the city a different place than it is today. >> you know, with respect to education -- and you said, obviously, that poverty and education are linked. they of course are. but charter schools is one of those major issues that i think maybe represents that link more than most, right? you've got this one side of the argument that says charter schools are wonderful because they provide an option for parents who are invested in their kids' education and don't want to put them in failing schools. >> right. >> on the other side, you've got those who say charter schools are simply a drain. >> right. >> so what is it? what's your view, and what's the future? >> charter schools and public schools -- first of all, charter schools are public schools. they're funded by the public. >> sure. >> and they can live together. the problem has been that when governor rendell was governor, he reimbursed the city school district for charter reimbursement. so when a child left the public school system, went to the charter school system, the money followed the child, and then the state reimbursed the public schools for that. when corbett became governor, he stopped that, and that's what created the real friction

between charter schools and public schools, because the money now leaves at this moment, leaves the public school and goes to the charter and is not replaced. and that's what creates the kind of economic dysfunction that is the system we have now. i have much faith in governor wolf. i think he is just a very intelligent, well-meaning, decent person who's going to do his best to change that formula to make sure that we have a full, a fair funding formula for our public schools statewide but also get us the reimbursement that we need for when charters are established and kids do move through charter school that we get the money back in order to keep our public schools going. but the real problem in this country is that somehow, the government has come to believe that education is a luxury and not a requirement. there are countries around the world -- china, scandinavia, europe -- where they understand that education is the absolute necessity for success in their nation. and for some reason or another in america, the decision has been made that somehow public education is not something that

we should fully fund. and i think that the legislature and the state of pennsylvania, under the pennsylvania constitution, the requirement to fully fund public schools is a constitutional requirement that has not been met by the legislate to date, and i'm hoping that will change. >> you know, there are lots of layers of bureaucracy when it comes to education in this city. and if we're being totally honest and transparent, any reform efforts that you make are going to have to be -- well, they're gonna have to get through the school reform commission, and the teachers union is also a very real, powerful force. are those two institutions in your mind effective -- the src and the teachers union? >> well, the src was established i guess 13 years ago or so in an effort to give legislators the level of comfort they needed to provide more money for the schools. in fact, the fact of the matter is they provide less money for the schools than they did 13 years ago, so one percentage. the teachers union is lambasted again and again, but i have been in those schools during the campaign and before the

campaign, and i watched teachers and principals just work their hearts out to make sure their kids have a good education. they love those kids, and they do their best every day, and i think somehow they've been vilified as the problem or part of the problem. they're not the problem. they're the last vestige of the solution of this thing. >> but is there enough accountability when it comes to teachers? >> you have to define accountability. i mean, what is accountability and how do you define it? and i know teachers and principals, i work with them every day, and they are dedicated to making sure these kids get a good education. the problem has been the resources provided by the government are not there, and charter schools and the charter school movement is a result of that misfunction or malfunction and fear that that people's kids won't get a good education in public schools. but i will tell you that in our public schools in philadelphia there are great success stories. i mean, there are success stories that are not promoted, that are not covered by the media. we have kids -- south philadelphia high school

for example, had two gate scholars last year, has one gate scholar this year. our west philadelphia automotive program had competed with m.i.t. and harvard in the design of a fuel-efficient car. i mean, we've had so many success stories that are not put on television. and if we had a flash mob of 15 in chestnut this week, it will get three days of coverage, but these kids actually producing and being positive and being productive are not covered in the way they should be. >> let's talk about crime, since you bring it up. you know, i think it's fair to say statistics can always be manipulated, but there's pretty real evidence and somewhat convincing that violent crime has gone off a cliff in the city. it's gone down at least very significantly. that leads us to stop and frisk. so many people have talked about this. it came up a lot in the campaign. the current mayor and the police commissioner credit stop and frisk for in part being behind those diving statistics. how do you see it? because minority communities say it unfairly and disproportionately targets them. does stop and frisk work?

>> well, a police officer who feels in danger always has the ability to pat someone down for a weapon. the problem with stop and frisk is that 83% of the stops result in no weapon confiscation and no arrest. so, i'm a 56-year-old white male who's never been stopped and frisked in his life. my son is a 26-year-old white male who's never been stopped and frisked in his life. the point is is that if you're a law-abiding, 20-year-old african-american male who gets stopped for no reason whatsoever other than who he is, asked to empty their pockets, empty their backpack, put their hands on the hood of a car, you know, show their i.d., to me, that is offensive. i mean, unless you think that person is actually involved in a crime or has a weapon on them, to stop them just randomly makes no sense. and the f.o.p. just agreed with me just the other day. john mcnesby said that, you know, we have the ability to make sure that our officers are safe, but this random stopping of people because of their profile makes no sense, and it doesn't help the relationship between the community and the police. the police department's motto is

"to protect and serve," and they need to have the confidence and the input of our communities to protect and serve us as best they can. sure, they should be safe, but i'm telling you that that process of stopping someone, patting them, emptying their pockets is not a pleasant thing, and it doesn't foster that kind of attitude. >> police/community relations a flash point across the country right now, and very much in line with what we're talking about. and i want to give you an opportunity here to discuss something that a lot of viewers saw by way of a television ad that got a lot of airplay, your words in 1997. and in fairness, you have said that you are embarrassed by them, that they don't represent you. but here they are. you said, "police cannot use flashlights. they can't use clubs to the head. they can't shoot anyone. what's next? are we gonna give them feather dusters?" a lot of people saw that more than saw your response to it. >> right. >> how do you justify those comments? >> first of all, those comments were made -- putting them in context, they were made as a result of an 8-year-old boy who was killed in the cross fire of

a store robbery 18, 19 years ago. 8-year-old going to the store to buy cookies was killed in the cross fire. and the guy who killed him was shot in the hand, and we went, and they repaired his hand. and i'm like, "why repair his hand?" because he killed two people. so, i mean, taking it in context, they're still embarrassing words, but out of context, they're worse. you know, i was 18 years younger, 19 years younger than i am today. i've seen and had more experience over my career and lifetime, and i understand that, again, they're regrettable words, but they don't represent me. they don't represent my heart or my head. and i understand that policing in a modern society takes more than just those kind of crazy words. >> do you think in this conversation that the ingredients exist in the city of philadelphia such that it could be the next baltimore or ferguson? could that happen here? >> any city can have that situation. i think because of police commissioner ramsey

deputy commissioner ross, the mayor, the way in which we have engaged our community over the years, i think that's unlikely although it could happen. and i think that ferguson and baltimore are a result of years and years of that kind of abuse. i don't think we have that here. certainly, we have situations within our police department and within our community relations that aren't always the best. but i think we are good-thinking, good-minded people generally, and i think that that, with the right intention, that won't happen here. >> yeah. you mentioned co missioner ramsey. he became a flash point in the democratic primary. and i want to get you on this, because you did say that you would essentially leave it up to him if he wants to stay on. would that be your first preference? is commissioner ramsey the guy for the job moving forward if he wants it? >> commissioner ramsey's probably been the best police commissioner i think we've had in my lifetime, and if he wants to stay, he has every opportunity to stay. i know that his responsibilities nationally have been enlarged. the president of the

united states has relied on him to deal with community-policing issues around the country, and he's been on the move and traveling a lot. if he wants to stay, he is welcome to stay. i think he is one of the finest people i've met as far as character is concerned, as far as understanding how to talk to people and how to communicate with folks, both officers and the public. so i'm very happy with his performance. if he wants to say, he is certainly welcome to stay, especially through the democratic national convention that's coming up in 2016 in august. so if he wants to stay through there, it's fine. whatever he wants to do, he can call his shot, but i will not go outside the police department for his replacement. >> you mentioned the democratic national convention. that's happening. so, too, the pope is coming to philadelphia. we've got lots to talk about including how do you bring about more jobs to this city? our conversation with jim kenney, the democratic candidate for mayor, continues right after this. >> "inside story" is presented by temple university. temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge.

plugged into the city, powered by the world. temple.edu/takecharge.

>> and welcome back to this special edition of "inside story" on this sunday morning. i'm brian taff, having an exclusive conversation with jim kenney, the man who recently won the democratic primary for mayor in philadelphia and won it, well, in rather significant margins, and we congratulate you for that. but, you know, now the big job comes, right?

first, you've got to win the general election. and we'll talk about your opponent coming up here. but then you want to build the city. every mayor wants to lure business to the city of philadelphia. they want new businesses coming in. they want to create the environment for young people to start businesses here. how aggressive would jim kenney be about that? where do you go get the jobs? >> well, i think, first of all our biggest problem are people who don't have a college education and represent part of that poverty mix that we were talking about earlier... >> right. >> ...that probably won't have a college education in their lifetime, but need to work at a job that's industrial in scope and blue-collar to make, you know, $30, $40, $50 an hour to be able to sustain families and buy homes and take care of their children. and one of the things we're looking at is investment on the waterfront. we have a pretty robust container operation down in south philadelphia and at tioga marine terminal. our investment in the port along with the state and the private sector, the city's investment, could expand that container facility to double its capacity, which would, if we're going to invest, which i hope to

do, into that project, that 191 zip-coded residence will be eligible for those jobs. and those are the kinds of jobs that if you don't have a college education, you can raise a family. when i was growing up in south philadelphia, a lot of men worked on the waterfront who worked at good jobs, but they didn't have college education. some of them didn't have high school educations, but were able to take care of their families. and i think we can replicate those opportunities for those folks in our city. we have to continue to attract high-tech, biotech, eds and meds, and those kinds of jobs, and also cultivate the creative economy and the i.t. folks. and that's really important, and we'll attack every sector of the economy in trying to make sure that we attract opportunities for people to work and people to graduate from college in philadelphia and stay in philadelphia, as opposed to going to new york or washington. >> right. >> so we have lots of plans to do those things, but i still think the primary focus for me right now are blue-collar, industrial jobs that will actually feed families and raise kids. >> which leads me to this -- you

know, much of your success in the primary did come as the result of union backing. >> yeah. >> you had a wide coalition, but a lot of it from unions. but the stories of unions standing in the way of advancement are pretty widespread. we need only look at the convention center for the stories of mob-like tactics, really, there. how, then, as mayor would you stand up to the unions who supported you in your win, and what role do they play? >> i don't think the word "stand up" is relevant. i think cooperation and discussion makes more sense. you have to remember, the convention center's foibles and problems were fixed by unions. three major unions crossed two major unions' picket lines in order to make that happen. the electricians, the stagehands, and the laborers crossed the carpenters and teamsters to the picket line to make sure that that building got back on track, and it's back on track. so i think the ability to talk to unions, to talk to union leadership, and to make sure that we all work together for the best goals of our city i think is the way to go. you know, the concept of

standing up and fighting back and beating down, it doesn't work in a democracy. you need to cooperate. you need to have conversation. you need to negotiate, especially with city employees. you need to negotiate fair contracts that are fair to the public and fair to the workers and i think we can do that. we've done it over the years. i mean, unionism, you know, is denigrated these days by the right, but if you think about the 40-hour work week, weekends, child-labor laws, you know unemployment compensation, workman's compensation, all those things were a result of bargaining between union and management. and i think if you respect that situation and not try to change the dynamic of it, i think you'll be better off and more successful. >> yeah. so much has been made of the -- well, let's call it the pension crisis in philadelphia. you allude to it there. it's not unique to this city by any stretch, but it is a drag on the city's bottom line, these sort of financial commitments that don't really exist in that form in the private sector. so how do you address this huge financial hole? >> first of all, the huge financial hole was not created by the employees.

it was created by bad management of the pension fund. i think better management of the pension fund makes all the sense, and any changes that would enhance the health of the pension fund needs to be negotiated with your employees. you know, in this country, we have a labor/management relationship, and what you do is you sit across the table from each other, and you negotiate for the things that management needs and the things that labor wants, and you figure out a way for a middle ground. and trying to impose, trying to dictate, trying to litigate contract changes don't work, and it basically creates a workforce that doesn't like the management. every major private-sectormpany in the country, in the world that has a good reputation and is productive has a good relationship with its workforce, and you can't have an adversarial relationship with your workforce 24/7 and expect to be productive. >> just about 45 seconds left in this segment, and i want to touch on these major things that are happening in philadelphia. obviously, the pope is coming in september. if you win, you wouldn't be mayor then for that to happen, but you'd have a high profile, no doubt.

and, then, the democratic national convention in 2016 -- huge events, big spotlight for the city of philadelphia. are we ready? >> yes. we've been ready. we've done the republican national convention i think in 2001, and we've had major events across the city over the years. we are absolutely ready. i am so excited and thrilled about the pope coming. as a graduate of st. joe's prep and the pope being a jesuit, i am really just touched by the fact that they've chosen philadelphia and look forward maybe to meet him. i would like to meet him. i don't know whether or not i'll be in that position at that particular point, but he has been a major light in my life since he'd become pope. you know, sometimes you fall away from your religion a little bit and you're not as active as you'd like to be, but he has gotten me closer to my faith than i've ever been. and the dnc is an opportunity for philadelphia to really shine in a way of attracting businesses, of having major c.e.o.s of companies around the country come to philadelphia and show off. >> all right, got to run. a very special moment, obviously, coming up. a final thought from you coming

up when "inside story" returns a final time. we work weekends here. because it works for our patients. here, at cancer treatment centers of america in philadelphia, we give our patients the freedom to make appointments that fit their schedules, even on weekends. because we believe in being here when our patients need us, so they can keep living their busy lives.

weekend appointments are now available here. learn more at cancercenter.com/eastern. (female announcer) you could win $1,000 a day for life... (husband) hon! it's grover cleveland! (female announcer) ...when you play the new cash4life, from the pennsylvania lottery. (husband) let me get this. (female announcer) that means you too could experience the joy of winning. (wife) look who went shopping! (female announcer) every day... (grover) your chariot awaits! (announcer) ... for the rest of your life. (wife) jump on! (grover) nothing like a new mower. (wife) what? (grover) see you tomorrow! (female announcer) cash4life from the pennsylvania lottery. play for fun. cash for life.

>> "inside story" is presented by temple university. temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. plugged into the city, powered by the world. temple.edu/takecharge. >> back a final time with jim kenney on this sunday morning. jim, in our remaining 30 seconds, the time is yours. >> well, i just want to tell everyone who voted for me and for those who supported me and my coalition how proud i am of them, and none of us can get anything done by ourselves. this city is a really wonderful city. it has its problems, and it has its issues, and we're gonna fight to fix those issues all the time every day. but i think we need to make sure we care about each other, that we're there for each other, and that we help each other reach our potentials. and i think that's the most important thing that i would like to express to people who are watching is that we can all do this together. none of us are alone, and no

matter how far you've fallen or how bad your situation is or how good you've done, i think we all need to pull each other up and be there for each other as philadelphians. and i think if we can do that, our city is gonna take off in the next four years or so. >> jim kenney, thank you for your time. much appreciated this morning. and next sunday morning, we'll talk to the republican melissa murray bailey. we thank jim kenney this morning. we thank you for joining us. have a great sunday and a great week. tell john kerry going to the hospital after crashing his bike in switzerland. remembering beau biden many people paying tribute today, to the delaware former attorney general. >> those stories and more next on "action news".

good afternoon it is sunday may 31st i'm nydia han with eva pilgrim. >> here are stories we are following on "action news". tributes pour in for beau biden one day after former delaware attorney general lost his battle with cancer. philadelphia police are