I guess as an homage to a time when this was big news, the Inquirer and the Associated Press had a story about Michael Nutter's new campaign manager, Tricia Enright. She's got an impressive resume and people I know who know her well have spoken very highly about her. In fact, she may even be overqualified for the job. While it's a good pick up for the Nutter crew, it's kind of like if the '92 Dream Team had added Shaquille O'Neal for good measure.
While the celebration over a new campaign manager must have been great, it didn't slow the candidate down as he took time to send a bunch of newbie environmental activists on their way into the harsh, pollution-choked world. More about that later from a very reputable source.
Wendy already mentioned this biographical piece about ward leader and highly-paid political consultant John Sabatina, a piece which Dan U-A over at YPP calls "puff." While I'm inclined to agree with him, I can't help but think that Bob Warner asked the very questions that Dan U-A brought up. Also, a lot of the criticism about the role of consultants in elections is brought up in the companion piece about how rise of the indepedent ward leader/consultants has made Democratic City Committee about as effective 2004 "Dream Team."
If you love really flimsy, thin pieces of tissue paper that cost 60 cents, have we got some good news for you. 'HYY, the Daily News, the Philadelphia Tribune, the Inquirer and the Metro give Barbaro treatment to the transfer (which could be bad news for the transfer given how the whole Barbaro thing turned out). How good could "home rule" be if our transit agency can't even stick it to poor people without the feds stepping in?
Turns out this guy should have just turned himself in for the outstanding warrants that he was facing. Given the charges he was facing, his situation couldn't have turned out any worse than it did. I remember a big part of "Safer Streets" being an intense push to find and arrest everyone with an outstanding warrant since the statistics were showing that a large number of violent crimes and homicides were being committed by people who shouldn't actually be allowed on the streets. I guess that was more difficult than the mayor and commissioner thought it would be.
Finally, it's that time of summer that all kids look forward to... the release of their PSSA scores! Yippee! Metro, Tribune and 'HYY have this one. Let's get it up for... suuuuuuh-light improoooooooovemeeeent! Of course the real fruit of these improvements won't be known for several years when we see whether increases in the numbers of students who are "proficient" in reading and math translate to an increase in the high school graduation rate which hovers around 50 percent.