In 1981, at age 24 and unsure of what to do with his life, Michael Nutter started hanging around Philadelphia City Hall, trying to get smart about sheriff's sales in hopes of becoming a real estate mogul.
He found himself drawn to the ornate City Council chamber, where he focused his attention on one new member, a black man like himself.
To Nutter, this councilman seemed well-informed, eloquent and fearless. He understood Council's rules better than anyone in the room.
"The guy could talk for an hour and not repeat himself," Nutter recalled. "I thought this is kind of wild and fascinating at the same time."
So wild, so fascinating that Nutter decided to take a shot at politics himself.
The "guy" was John Street, the same John Street with whom Nutter would develop a torturous relationship.
Nutter appreciates the irony of the tale. But he's not saying that Street, whom he now holds in vigorously reciprocated contempt, was his mentor or inspiration. He reserves those labels for Councilman John Anderson, an independent-minded Democrat who died in 1983 and had much the same political appeal that Nutter does now.
In some significant ways, though, Michael Nutter would emulate John Street.
Nutter wanted to get elected to City Council, and he did, representing the Fourth District (Wynnefield, Overbrook, Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls and parts of North and West Philadelphia) for nearly 15 years. He wanted to be seen as a master of government's details, and he was.
Now, Nutter is trying to succeed Street as mayor. And while Street is not on the May 15 Democratic primary ballot, Nutter has uttered more harsh words about him than about Bob Brady, Dwight Evans, Chaka Fattah or Tom Knox.
"Philadelphia's next mayor must run this city differently than John Street has," Nutter's first campaign commercial intoned. "Michael Nutter will."
There is, of course, much more to the man than his history with Street.
He is a former financial adviser and disco deejay, a husband and father. He is a Baptist who was born a Catholic, an African American politician without much of an African American political base. He is a political reformer who has been a ward leader since 1990, a charisma-challenged policy wonk whose dry wit has been the prime source of humor in this year's mayoral forums.
