Jim Kenney

City Councilman at-large, Democrat

by Brian Hickey

Sure, it's early. Eight years and a couple of months early, actually. But having broken out the magic Guinness-filled crystal ball at the Plough and the Stars the other night, the future became clear enough to make a declaration: I'm endorsing James Kenney in the 2015 mayoral race.

Who cares about not knowing 1) whether the American Empire will have crumbled by then; 2) if we'll have already ceded every last shred of civic control to the waterfront casinos; and 3) who else'll be running. Sometimes, you sense someone puts city before self. That's the feeling I had the night before Kenney drew a primo ballot position for the City Council at-large primary.

Well, it probably came earlier, when I realized that, despite having spent many years in Cesspool Hall and always being tightly linked to a political patron now under federal indictment, Kenney's emerged practically unscathed. Not, as he'll point out, in a being-named-in-an-indictment kind of way (which he wasn't). But despite tenuous ties, Kenney still has the respect of people all along the political spectrum. (Since you're wondering, he says, "I'm worried for him. Worried about him" — the "him" being Vince Fumo.)

As Kenney's fingers tapped the bar, feet bouncing and eyes wandering in a way that made me think, "Hmm, he really doesn't want to be here," I asked the question many seem to wonder. Why settle for council? Partly, he said, it was the wrong time (with a kid heading to college and another to high school, the demands would be onerous). The rest?

"It's a 24/7 intrusion into your personal life," he said. "You get no relief from it." Then, the hint dropped. "I'll be 48 in August. So, in eight years, I'll be 56. If I'm still here, God willing."

So the man's thinking about it. Good.

Confident that he'll win re-election, he said his proposal to bring a 311 nonemergency-call system to Philadelphia is a big-picture initiative that "will change the whole way people look at politics in Philadelphia." This, because having seen it work in other cities like Chicago, it'd remove the red tape that makes it so hard for citizens to get the government to pay attention to day-to-day issues around the city. (Read: You won't need to know the right person anymore.) Vowing to hand-deliver a Request for Proposal to whomever wins the mayor's race — he estimates it'd cost $5 million to set up and $4 million annually — Kenney touched on the need for the city to establish an Office of the Environment and find a way for council to work better with our elected-official-in-chief.

It quickly becomes apparent that people seem to like this guy because he has ideas, not prepackaged sound bites. Like how he didn't hesitate when asked about the downside of public service.

"People just come up to you anywhere, anytime, and ask you to do things for them. It's not like that for a doctor, dentist, car mechanic. They think, 'We pay your salary, so you need to do this right now,'" he offered. "It's always, 'What are you going to do for me?' instead of 'What can we do together?' I can't stand that."

As he set off for a community meeting, leaving a generous tip and a couple of sips left in his lone pint, he made sure to say he's worried about Tom Knox winning. (He considers him an empty suit who's been bitten "by the rabid dog" of wanting political power.) Then, he put it all into perspective.

"Only 10 to 15 percent of the people are actually paying attention to all this right now," he said. "They have to take the kids to soccer. Do the laundry. Putting the kids to bed and getting on the couch by 9 p.m. to watch American Idol. This isn't even on their radar."