Dickson said that would make it much easier for The Inquirer and Daily News to file right-to-know requests.
"Just drill a hole in the floor and drop them through," he said.
- Troy Graham and Amy Worden
Fanning a little recall smoke?
It's no secret that Mayor Nutter wouldn't be a very popular guy at a municipal workers rally. That's what happens when three of the city's largest unions go more than three years without a contract - or a raise.
But last week, rumors arose of a new level of animosity among the firefighters - who are locked in an epic fight over their contract. Word was they wanted to launch a campaign to recall the mayor.
The City Charter allows for a recall election if opponents can gather signatures equal to a quarter of the votes cast for mayor in the last election. In this case, firefighters would need to collect about 46,000 valid signatures.
There's some question of whether the action would be legal, since the state Supreme Court snuffed out an effort to recall Mayor Frank Rizzo in his second term.
Bill Gault, president of Local 22 of the firefighters' union, said a recall effort was "just another option we're looking at," but he didn't sound as if he considered it a realistic pursuit.
Still, even the discussion is indicative of the Nutter animus among the city's smoke-eaters.
The situation didn't seem much better over at District Council 33, the blue-collar city workers' union that has been without a contract since 2009.
During a recent labor event, DC 33 president Pete Matthews said Nutter was trying to break the union. He went on to speak elliptically about Mitt Romney and suggest unions could "sit on their hands" in the presidential election if Democratic politicians didn't stop taking them for granted.
DC 33 and Local 22, of course, are the two municipal unions that took an anybody-but-Nutter approach to the last Democratic primary, instead backing T. Milton Street - a recently released federal inmate.
- Troy Graham and Jane M. Von Bergen
