Heard in the Hall

Senior members of Michael Nutter's staff are meeting for a retreat at the University of Pennsylvania this afternoon. No word yet on what team-building exercises they have in mind.

Bring on the champagne, the whiskey, the cerveza.

In just about an hour from now, Mayor Street and dozens of his current top aides and those from years past will begin toasting The End.

A private 200-person goodbye party is being held at the Convention Center. It's Street's way of saying "thanks" and a way to celebrate and bring closure to a turbulent eight years. (Okay, turbulent is our word.)

The party's official organizer: David L. Cohen, Mayor Rendell's former chief of staff.

In the fall, Cohen said, "The mayor and I had a conversation about what Ed did at the end of his term, from packing and storing of files to helping people find jobs to employment for himself. I sort of made a list of things for him (Street)."

Also on that list: Hosting a reception and dinner for senior staff members. Street, Cohen said, "decided this would be a nice thing to do for his administration."

The day after his inauguration, Mayor Nutter will invite the public into City Hall. Visitors should stop by between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tuesday. Three of City Hall's four portals will be lit just in time for Nutter's inauguration (the 4th portal will be lit once renovation of the south side of the building is complete). Follow the link for the full press release.

Yesterday was a busy day politically, and not just in Iowa. We'll start with City Council, where our own Jeff Shields has exclusively reported that three council members - Frank DiCicco, Anna Verna and Frank Rizzo - have enrolled in the controversial DROP program, joining Mayor Street, D.A. Abraham and fellow Councilmember Krajewski. It sounds that other council members are considering enrolling as well, and it looks like a full-blown rush is on by the city's elected officials to take advantage of the lucrative program before it's shut down by the Nutter administration.

Staying with City Council, the results of Inspector General Seth William's investigation into soon-to-be Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. are in, and they are ... kind of fuzzy. Get the details from the Inquirer here, and DN here.

On the mayoral front, while Michael Nutter was attending a prayer service held in his honor, the Fraternal Order of Police was sharply questioning his pick for Deputy Mayor of Public Safety. That would be Everett A. Gillison, a lifelong public defender and accomplished attorney whose client list includes the convicted killer of Police Officer Gary Skerski. Don't expect this issue to go away soon. As a member of Nutter's team, Gillison will bring an important perspective on the rights of defendants (he will no doubt keep a close eye on stop and frisk, for example) but his selection was bound to rile police officers.

Departing Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson bid a caustic farewell to the public yesterday, using his last press conference largely to crtique press coverage of the police department and crime in the city. He went after the Inquirer and Daily News in particular. DN take is here.

Lastly, the Daily News has the second part of its two-day look at the successes and failures of Mayor Street's hallmark program: the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. The Inquirer will take a look at Mayor Street's legacy this weekend.

The husband of Camille Barnett, named Michael Nutter's managing director, was killed last night on his way to join her in Philadelphia.

Until her appointment to the city's number-two job by the mayor-elect, Barnett worked in Washington D.C. for Public Financial Management.

Here's the statement just issued by Nutter.

“We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the sudden passing of James M. Barnett, husband of Camille Barnett who is the incoming Managing Director in the Administration. Mr. Barnett was killed early this morning in a car accident during his commute from Washington D.C. to Philadelphia. During the process of bringing Camille to Philadelphia and announcing her appointment, I, as well as many of the staff members and volunteers on the Nutter Transition Team had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know James. We found him to be a warm and a gentle man. All of our hopes and prayers are with the Barnett Family in their time of loss.”

At this time, Mayor-Elect Nutter nor his staff will make any further comment on this matter out of respect to Camille and the Barnett Family.

We overlooked this tough take on the city's Zoning Board by Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron in our morning briefing. It's a must read.

It's no secret what job outgoing Inspector General Seth Williams really wants - District Attorney - but a guy's got to make a living between now and 2010. Williams has taken a position as of-counsel at the 170-lawyer, enter City firm Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young. Williams, who advocated increased powers for the Inspector General's office, which is responsible for investigating city and city-funded agencies but has little power over elected officials. Michael Nutter did not reappoint him, choosing instead veteran federal prosecutor Amy Kurland.

John Street will not be mayor by lunchtime Monday, but he guaranteed his presence will be felt for years with a couple of last-minute appointments to the Redevelopment Authority and one not-so-last minute pick for the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

Instead of leaving open two positions on the five-member RDA board for new Mayor Michael Nutter to fill, Street late last week appointed attorney Roxanne E. Covington and old ally Asia Coney to five-year terms.
Covington is a member of the city’s Human Relations Commission and a former city attorney; Coney is director of Tenant Support Services, Inc., a non-profit contracted by the Housing Authority to coordinate a host of services for its residents.
They replace Shawn Fordham, who resigned earlier in 2007, and Sharmain Matlock-Turner.
Street also made another interesting appointment, although this one happened quietly about six months ago.
He named himself to the five-member Philadelphia Housing Authority board for a five-year term, insuring himself a place at Mayor Nutter’s table.
Under the housing authority's bylaws, the mayor of Philadelphia is entitled to make two of five board appointments. But the bylaws are not crystal clear about whether those appointments begin simultaneously with a new mayor's term, or when a seat opens.
What is clear is that Street, in meetings with housing authority residents, has said he intends to stay on the board. For the next five years.

Last week’s last-minute Inspector General’s report on new City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. essentially characterized his severance package with the quasi-governmental agency he used to head as a sweetheart deal that allowed Jones to run for Council.
Jones, former president of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation, got a $31,000 parachute and was allowed to take over the lease of the company car he drove. The extent to which these were legitimate decisions by the PCDC board was hotly debated by outgoing Inspector General Seth Williams and PCDC president Aqil Sabur, as well as Jones, who said everything was done properly.

Some feel that Williams' 11th-hour poke at Jones, who is being sworn in today, was a cheap shot. The investigation itself was controversial: Williams openly discussed the investigation over the summer -- to the chagrin of Jones and others -- and some accused him of taking revenge on Jones on behalf of Carol Ann Campbell, the City Councilwoman Jones beat in the primary. Sources in the IG's office said Williams was being hit from both sides of the black community -- some who thought he wasn't pursuing Jones hard enough, others who thought he was being too tough. It was a tricky spot politically, pitting Williams and Jones, two relatively young, ambitious African-American politicians with strong resumes, against one another.
But one action that didn’t pass the smell test by anyone’s standards was PCDC’s payout for a 3-feet-by 20-feet vinyl banner, hung in front of Jones’ campaign office at 63d Stret and Lansdowne Avenue. While PCDC was mentioned in the banner, it was the “Curtis Jones Jr.” in bold letters that inspired PCDC to bill Jones the $380 it cost for the banner. Jones paid the bill.
But Williams wanted to know: Why would PCDC pay for such a banner — nominally a PCDC banner but clearly a Jones promotional sign — in the first place?
“The expenditures of PCDC for them purchasing a banner of a potential campaign for anyone is inappropriate, regardless of whether he pays them back,” Williams said in an interview.
Jones called it “an error in judgment.”
.

It was always amusing to the press corps that Mayor Street refused to remove the term “acting” from his Acting Director of Communications, Joe Grace. Grace, a former Daily News reporter and City Council candidate, took over as the mayor’s spokesman in June 2005 and held onto to a volatile job that has been filled by four different people this term alone.
On Friday Grace (pictured in a Daily News photo) received perhaps the highest honor the quirky Street could offer – a letter praising his service, with a removal of the “Acting” word from his title, retroactive, good for Grace's whole tenure. Street said in his letter that it should have been done much earlier -- but Grace still got to enjoy his new moniker as "Communications Director" (sounds so permanent!) for three days.
“It meant a lot,” Grace said by phone Sunday night in what he claimed would be his final press call. “It was a gracious gesture and I appreciated it very much.”
Street’s fondness for retro activities inspired him last month to lay claim to $111,000 worth of raises he had spurned since 2004. Could Grace be in for such a bonus? Nope. Getting out of politics will have to be bonus enough. Grace will become executive director of CeaseFire PA, a gun-control organization based in the city.

John Street's eight eventful and sometimes difficult years as Philadelphia's mayor will come to an end this morning, as Michael Nutter is sworn in as the city's 98th mayor. That new day he's been promising has finally arrived, and we expect he'll make that clear in his inaugural address, which will be broadcast live on most local television stations around 11 a.m.

We'll begin with the end. The Inquirer took a long look back on the Street administration in Sunday's paper. You can find the story here. It's a mixed legacy. There were failures, to be sure, but there were plenty of successes as well; successes that were overshadowed in many cases by the mayor's own prickly personality.

Looking ahead to Tuesday... Geez does Nutter has a lot to do immediately after taking office. The budget. The fiver year plan. Contract negotations. Finish assembling his team. Roll out some splashy new initiative. Show folks change is afoot in the police department. Shake up city government. Reassert the leadership role of the mayor's office.

Expect that last item to be the focus today. If his remarks of late are any indication, Nutter is going to use today's big bully pulpit to try and recruit Philadelphians to his cause. Expect him to urge its residents to do their part. Wash their steps. Look after their children. Take pride in their city. That sort of thing. There's no way he can fix the city on his own, and Nutter knows it.

Lest we forget, City Council will also be sworn into. Three new members: Bill Green, Curtis Jones Jr. and Maria Quinones Sanchez will join council today.

In other news, the Inquirer's Tom Ferrick - who writes for the opinion section these days - did some digging and got the numbers (not definitive, but informative nonetheless) on minority particpation in the city's building trades unions. Check it out here.

Finally, one member of Nutter's new team - Managing Director Camille Cates Barnett - won't be attending today's party. As reported Friday, her husband was killed in a car accident while driving to Philadelphia. The Daily News reports that his wake will be held tonight, and his funeral will be tomorrow. Given the tragedy, it is unclear when Barnett will rejoin the administration.

The inaugural ceremonies are underway. Anna Verna has been named council president, as expected, and is in the midst of her address. Her biggest applause lines so far? A thank you to mayor Street and a call to fight violent cre. Like the rest of council, she wants gun control.

"The rennaisance period of Philadelphia started about a half hour ago." -- Mayor Michael Nutter, as he wrapped up his inaugural address.

Mayor Nutter's first act was to sign an executive order declaring a crime emergency. He'd pledged to do that during the campaign, but backed off that pledge in recent weeks, so the signing was a bit of a surprise. It likely won't lead to any clear tactical changes for at least a few weeks. New Police Commissioner Ramsey will report back to Nutter at the end of the month with his plan.

With his second act, Nutter formally established the office of Chief Integrity Officer, a post he filled a few weeks ago with former assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Markman. The third executive order gave his deputy mayors and yet-to-be-announced deputy managing directors the authority to oversee certain city departments.

This just in...
After 31 years, Daily News city hall fixture Mark McDonald has hung up his reporter's hat, and is crossing over to be part of Mayor Nutter's "new day, new way."
In fact, McDonald will still be writing the news. But now he will write it for the new occupant of the second-floor executive office across the hall from the press room he has occupied for so many years.
And instead of writing articles, he'll be writing speeches for the new mayor.
Affectionately nicknamed as "the dean" by former Mayor Street, McDonald showed in press conferences that he could go head-to-head with most any city bureaucrat about, say, the genesis of the liquor-by-the-drink tax.
His last newsroom day was Sunday.

Sharif Street - former Council candidate, real estate attorney, and the son of former Mayor Street - was the beneficiary of one of his father's last-minute flurry of appointments. His post? A seat on the Zoning Code Commission, which is rewriting the city's zoning code. Street had five slots to fill on the commission, but he let them languish empty for months. Team Nutter clearly expected to fill the posts itself. No word yet on whether or not Sharif Street was the only new member named, but we'll find out shortly.

Sharif Street confirmed the appointment himself following this morning's inauguration of Mayor Nutter. What'd he think of the speech? He said it was solid, and he appreciated the respect Nutter paid to former Mayors Street and Rendell.

Elvis is in the house!

Err... well, he's in City Hall.

Err... well, it's not actually Elvis, but Michael Nutter.

At this moment, with the new mayor shaking the hands of what feels like thousands of people waiting in line to greet him, City Hall is feeling more love than it has in years. Maybe decades.

The buzz, the aura, the excitment is unmistakable. It must be true: Philadelphians sure like to get to know their mayor.

As of 6 p.m., the line extended halfway around City Hall, from the portal facing South Broad Street, west to Market Street, and then to the portal facing North Broad, up a staircase that hasn't been open to the public in years, and finally, into Conversation Hall.

There, one by one they come to shake Nutter's hand. His personal assistant, Jordan Schwartz, stands behind him to collect whatever it is people give him. Some have brought pictures of Nutter and seek his autograph.

Also standing by as trusty greeters of the public: Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, and City Councilman Jim Kenney.

Then it's down to the City Hall courtyard where a large white tent is pitched. Inside: Tastykakes, pretzels, chocolate chip cookies.

Evening has arrived, but it's still a new day.

One moment you're grilling a witness on the stand.

The next, you are occupying his office.

Welcome to Joan Markman's world.

Two years ago, as a veteran federal prosecutor, she was cross-examining George Burrell during the first City Hall corruption trial. Burrell, then a senior adviser to Mayor Street, had testified as a defense witness in the case of acquitted investment banker Denis J. Carlson, who was accused of lying to the FBI about his relationship with lawyer Ronald A. White.

Of course, that was then.

Today, Markman worked her first full day as Mayor Nutter's chief integrity officer - from a desk inside the same digs, inside the mayor's second-floor suite, that Burrell toiled in for years.

Says Markman: "It's a lovely office."

John Street unsheathed a rare weapon in his final days in office, using the obscure pocket veto available to a mayor only once in four years.
Street pocketed four relatively minor bills with the pocket veto, so he didn't torpedo big Council initiatives.He nixed two streets bills, shot down Darrell Clarke's bill requiring developers to submit "economic opportunity plans" to qualify for tax abatements, and axed Carol Ann Campbell's bill to force the city recreation department to devote 10 percent of its services at one large recreation center for autistic children.
Here's how the pocket veto works.
Typically, any bill becomes law in three ways:
1) It is signed by the Mayor.
2) The mayor vetoes it, sending it back to Council at a Council meeting no earlier than 10 days after it was passed. Then the Council overrides the veto.
3) The Mayor does not sign the bill by that first meeting, no earlier than 10 days after it is passed, and it automatically becomes law.
But every four years, at the end of a Council term, all bills die and must be reintroduced the next session. Any bills passed at the council's last two meetings, Dec. 13 and Dec. 19 can not become law if Street fails to sign them, because there is not another Council meeting that occurs 10 days after the bill's passage. So Street just doesn't sign the bills, and they die -- there's your pocket veto.
This was codified in a 1971 opinion. If you're not confused enough by now, read on...

As Mayor Nutter himself put it, it was as if he was doing a campaign transit stop.

This morning, after taking part in a press conference about new federal funds for SEPTA, the mayor took nary a step back from the podium before being surrounded by People.

More Ordinary People just reaching out to shake his hand beneath the Clothespin at 15th and Market Streets.

Not everyone could make it to City Hall yesterday to wait in line to meet the mayor during the open house, one woman told him.

Another thrust her cell phone at him. “It’s my mother’s birthday, she’s on the phone!”

“Hello? This is Michael Nutter,” he told Betsy Paris, newly 67.

“Oh, you’re at the hairdresser! Getting ready for tonight, eh?” he went on.

Betsy’s daughter beamed as the mayor handed her back the phone. “Thank you! You’re like a breath of fresh air.”

Philadelphia, meet your new mayor.

He gets going in earnest at the one minute mark in this video.

Yes, that's right, that was Mayor Nutter delivering a credible version of the Sugarhill Gang's Rappers Delight. It is one of Heard in the Hall's deepest regrets in life that we left the inaugural party before Nutter laid this one down.

via Philebrity.

Now that the rapping is done, and the greatest hand-shaking marathon in the city's recent history is over, it seems the time has come for Mayor Nutter to buckle down.

For the first time since taking office, Nutter has no public appearances on his schedule. He's holed up with his senior staff right now, and so far he no public events scheduled for tomorrow either. We're told the meetings are of the basic, settling-in variety.

He's certainly got plenty of work to do.

As one mayoral aide put it while Nutter was shaking the hands of thousands who attended Tuesday's City Hall open house: "This is the easy part."

The hard part starts today.

Mayor Nutter announced his highest profile nominees during the transition period, picking a chief of staff (Clarence Armbrister), a police commissioner (Charles Ramsey) a managing director (Camille Barnett) and a host of other cabinet members.

But there still were still plenty of critical positions left open, particularly at the commissioner level. Now we know who's staying and who's going (Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers gets to keep his job, for instance). The full list, plus bios of the permanent appointees, can be found below the jump. A lot of folks on this list are on an "acting" status, so the roster will likely change significantly, but for now, the Nutter team is largely in place.

Pay particular attention to the names and bios of the folks who will be working in the mayor's office: Pauline Abernathy, Julia Chapman, Tricia Enright, Terry Gillen and Wendell Eric Pritchett. They're some of Nutter's closest advisors and are likely to play big roles in his administration.

With the notable exception of U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, there haven't been a lot of local pols lining up to support Sen. Barack Obama's presidential bid. That could change, of course, if Obama continues to challenge Hillary Clinton for front-runner status, but until now most local politicians have either backed Clinton (a la Mayor Nutter and U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwarz) or stayed on the sidelines.

But State Rep. Tony Payton, who beat the party endorsed candidate to become the youngest representative in Harrisburg, is pulling for Obama, and even went to campaign for him in New Hampshire. Still, we suspect this photo does Payton more good than Obama. How long until it's hanging on the wall of his office?

Update: As noted in the comments, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy (who represents Bucks County and a pair of wards in Northeast Philadelphia) is also backing Obama.

It was one of the most memorable lines of Mayor Nutter’s inaugural address.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the renaissance period of Philadelphia got started about a half-hour ago,” he proclaimed, to thunderous applause.

Gov. Rendell — who was sitting about 20 feet away — clapped along with everyone else, but his eyebrows briefly furrowed at the line.

After all, many would argue that Philadelphia’s renaissance got started sometime after then-Mayor Rendell took office in 1992. Remember the fawning profiles in the national press? The sobriquet “America’s Mayor,” bestowed by none other than Vice President Al Gore? The resurgence of Center City and the dramatic turnaround in Philadelphia’s fiscal standing?

Rendell sure remembers.

So when asked about Nutter’s “renaissance” remark minutes after the inaugural ceremony ended last Monday, Rendell sought to subtly remind folks that his tenure wasn’t so shabby.

“Well, we’ll just chalk that up to poetic license,” Rendell said when asked how he liked the remark.

Rendell approved of the rest of Nutter’s address, saying it set the right tone and appropriately reminded residents that government couldn’t solve the city’s ills on its own.

Mayor Nutter's top aides just filed into Room 221 for their their first Cabinet meeting.

So who's in the Cabinet? Not the education secretary; the Nutter Administration doesn't have one.

In any mayor's Cabinet, the City Charter dictates the inclusion of four people: the managing director, the finance director; the city solicitor and the city representative. In addition to those folks, initial plans for Nutter's Cabinet also include his three deputy mayors, his chief of staff, and the commerce director. Excluding the mayor himself, that's nine.

"The goal for the first meeting is to really begin to develop a team atmosphere and see to it that everyone understands where we are going," said Chief of Staff Clay Armbrister. Efforts to do so at a retreat two weeks ago were interrupted by the sudden news of the death of managing director Camille Barnett's husband, Jim.

Armbrister said the group this afternoon would also discuss "near-term challenges" and legislative initiatives, beginning with the budget and five-year plan, which must be submitted to Council by the end of this month. No time to waste.

Referring in jest to the chaos in setting up a new administration, Armbrister said he has another goal in mind as well: "To make sure we can get to the second Cabinet meeting."

Inquirer columnist Monica Yant Kinney reports that Nutter was yukking it up at this morning's Independence Historical National Park Service dedication of the "People's Plaza," a new $268,000 granite space at Independence National Park dedicated for groups to demonstrate and celebrate the ever-important First Amendment.

After speaking about the power of free speech - "You never know what you might learn if you listen to other people" - Nutter turned his attention to a Park Service maintenance staffer named Steve Murphy, who won a department-wide contest by coming up with the name, "People's Plaza."

"To Steve, by the power vested in me, you have the rest of the day off," Nutter said, to laughter and shivers at the outdoor event. "Of course, I have nothing to do with the National Park Service."

Following Nutter, Joe Torsella, president of the Constitution Center, said his staff would be watching closely to see whether Murphy indeed got the day off, to see if our system of "checks and balances" actually works.

It does.

"He's getting a day off, but not today, said Park Service spokeswoman Jane Cowley, noting that this way he'll get an entire day off, not just part of it. The Park Service had already planned on giving Murphy a free day, she said, but Nutter sort of moved it along.

This in from intrepid Inquirer education reporter Sue Snyder:

Lori Shorr, vice president for policies and planning at the Philadelphia Youth Network — the organization that is pioneering an effort to cut the city's dropout rate — is expected to be named Mayor Nutter's point person on education, sources said today.

Shorr, who previously worked in the Pennsylvania Department of Education and at Temple University, did not return calls for comment.

Nutter's staff also declined comment.

Shorr reportedly will be appointed director of education initiatives under an office of education that Nutter plans to create. More details are expected later this month.

Nutter in his inaugural address said he planned to cut the city school’s 45 percent dropout rate in half over the next five to seven years.

Shorr lives in the city, and her children have attended Philadelphia public schools.

At the state department of education, she served as a special assistant to Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak. While at Temple, Shorr was the director of schools and community partnerships.

Rina Cutler, Mayor Nutter's new deputy mayor for transportation, has an interesting notion. She'd like to see one card that can be used instead of cash with the city's three principal transit/transportation agencies: SEPTA, PATCO and the Philadelphia Parking Authority. It wouldn't be an easy feat. After all, SEPTA doesn't even have an electronic fare card yet (monthly passes aren't the same thing at all), and getting three individual systems to talk to each other would be a real technical challenge. PPA's card is used at meters, while PATCO's is good for rides on the system's trains, parking fares at its lots and even station vending machines.

Cutler is well aware of the hurdles: "It's going to be an interesting discussion to say the least."

It's certainly possible that a citywide card won't work. Still, it's a compelling idea, and it highlights the value of having a senior city official thinking about transit and transportation across agency lines.

The new budget season has officially begun in City Hall.

Various commissioners, as requested by the Nutter administration, are busy compiling memos that detail how they can make their departments more efficient - and trim spending by 3 to 5 percent.

"The point of this was not for them to come back and say 'here is how we are cutting,'" said Finance Director Rob Dubow, "but 'here’s how we can improve things.'"

Some of the memos have already reached his desk, with "some interersting ideas of how to reorganize, how to run things better."

Dubow, though, wouldn't yet say what those ideas are.

To put a finer point on it, Chief of Staff Clay Armbrister said, "I don't view this as a mandate to cut their budgets, and we made it clear we are not looking at any reductions in services."

What are they seeking? "Innovate ways they can do things more efficiently."

Get out those checkbooks!

The new campaign finance caps have been announced, and there's room for more - more collecting of campaign dollars, that is.

Instead of being limited to $2,500, individual donors can now give up to $2,600 to city candidates. And businesses and political committees can now give up to $10,600, busting through the $10,000 cap that existed until now.

As required by law, the new caps were adjusted for the new calendar year, taking into account
the consumer price index, and more.

So this is it, this is the way fundraising will work in Philadelphia - now that it's been legalized by the state Supreme Court - until the next time the caps are adjusted.

That will be in 2012.

Our own Marcia Gelbart got a list of salaries for Mayor Nutter's top salaries. Some may seem high at first glance, but if anything, Heard in the Hall expected that Nutter would have to shell out even more to secure the services of well-traveled pros like Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and Managing Director Camille Barnett. Chief of Staff Clarence Armbrister is no slouch either: as the Inquirer's story today pointed out, he took a roughly 50 percent pay cut when he signed on with Nutter, and he was making that money at Temple University, not in the private sector.

Today's Inquirer also advances a story on the FBI probe of Christopher G. Wright, Councilman Jack Kelly's chief of staff. The feds seem interested in the ties between Wright and Northeast Philadelphia's largest property owners, Hardeep Chawla and his brother Ravinder Chawla, who have been longtime supporters of Kelly. Heard in the Hall's Jeff Shields first reported on the Chawlas' relationship with Kelly back in October, and the Daily News caught wind of the FBI probe yesterday.

The Chawlas and Wright seem very close. As Shields reports, they gave him $1,000 for Christmas in 2005. Wright acknowledged the gift, as required by city law, on his financial disclosure form.

Susan Jaffe, Anthony Lewis, Jr., Joseph Manko, Lynette Brown-Sow and Carol Tinari. Jaffe will be the chair.

Bios available after the jump. More to come later.

Councilman Wilson Goode Jr. has just shared some thoughts on the police shooting of his cousin, Timothy Jerome Goode, over at Young Philly Politics. He suggests the shooting was a case of mistaken identity. Here's a sample.

"The police shooting of Timothy Jerome Goode was a case of “mistaken identity”. Tee was probably mistaken for someone who had nothing to live for - but he wasn’t a high school dropout, he was a valedictorian. Tee was to become a father for the first time this spring. He was running for his life - and into a brighter future - until he was mistaken for not having one."

In addition to today's story, here is a fuller look at the salaries of high-level aides in the Nutter administration, according to a list the Inquirer requested from the mayor's press office. Many of the salaries for commissioners and department heads are determined according to ranges set under a city ordinance. And this list is by no means complete; several top positions have yet to be announced.

Mayor Michael Nutter $186,044
Chief of Staff Clay Armbrister $198,500
Managing Director Camille Barnett $195,000
Deputy Chief of Staff Patricia Enright $155,000
Chief Integrity Officer Joan Markman $150,000
Director of Legislative Affiars Julia Chapman $150,000
Director of Multicultural Affairs Israel Colon $90,000
Director of Research, Policy and Planning Wendell Pritchett $150,000