Heard in the Hall

With likely-mayor Michael Nutter and his good-government ethics about to sweep into City Hall, City Council is reaching out for part of the action.

A four-bill package - on lobbyist regulation, nepotism prohibitions, outside employment restrictions and a gift ban - has just been scheduled for a Nov. 13 hearing before Council's Law and Government Committee.

That news comes courtesy of Shane Creamer, executive director of the Philadelphia Board of Ethics, which was asked to testify.

Just a few hours earlier, in the board's monthly meeting, board chairman Richard Glazer was wondering if those bills, introduced by Councilman Frank Rizzo, would get a hearing before the year's end.

It's as if someone was listening.

In his first address as mayor elect, Michael Nutter hearkened back to John F. Kennedy's call to public service and asked for the city's "best and brightest" to join his administration.

I want people to start thinking about changing their lives and changing their careers, to come into the government of the City of Philadelphia. Whether it's an executive loan program for experienced executives or also the rising stars in your company. We need your help in order to turn this government around, to change our policies and practices, to have new ideas and new ways of doing business in this city... We need your help and support to show us some of the things you do in your companies to drive value, to enhance shareholder value, to drive revenue up, cut costs and make your bottom line work.

I want you to start thinking about it. Whether it's time for you to make a change, take a detour. And I understand that public service may not be for everyone for the long haul. There is no higher calling, there is no better way to serve your fellow Philadelphians and people in the region then to consider coming into public service. I need your help and I'm asking for your support.

Nutter's remarks seem tailored to the audience, a large group of business leaders who'd asembled for a traditional post-election Committee of 70 breakfast. His speech was mellower than many he has delivered recently, and he spent plenty of time talking about what executives could do to help his administration.

Still, he was received like a rock star ("Bad to the Bone" was played as he entered the ballroom at the Bellevue Hotel where the event was held), and he drew plenty of applause in his 20-minute speech with lines like this: "We need to get over ourselves at a certain level, and stop being so envious of other places. ... We are Philadelphia, and we need to be proud of that."

More to come later.

Update: Want to apply. Nutter is taking resumes over at www.nutter2007.com.

The mayor-elect right now is standing outside the Criminal Justice Center, where he is expected to name his pick to fill a vacancy on the Philadelphia Board of Ethics.

How interesting, then, that Mayor Street advised City Council this morning that he would also be appointing someone, Damon Jones, to fill that vacancy. (It was created about a month or two ago when Pauline Abernathy resigned from the ethics board to join Nutter's campaign team.)

The mayor - whoever it is - is the appointing authority, but City Council must vote on that choice within 60 days. Otherwise, the appointee at that time becomes a full-fledged board member.

Do the math: Sixty days from today is well past Jan. 7, when Mayor Street will no longer be in office.

How interesting.