Mayor Mike's biggest misstep (appointed, home, salaries)

[LoyalOpposition]

By J. MATTHEW WOLFE
IS THERE a shortcut on the road to reform? Democratic Mayor Nutter seems to think so.

He ran as the darling of the reformers. An agent for change. One of his very first decisions, however, was to violate the Home Rule Charter by paying some of his top appointments more of our money than the charter allows.

In case you missed it the first time around, the charter specifies the salaries of the mayor, City Council and the top officials appointed by the mayor.

Mayor Nutter's managing director is getting over $20,000 a year more than allowed. The police commissioner will get almost $40,000 more. They are the most prominent figures to whom Mayor Nutter unilaterally decided to give raises.

His excuse is that in order to attract the people he wants to work for the city, he needs to pay higher salaries. There might be some merit to his argument, although the salaries allowed by the charter are not exactly chump change. You'd think that most managing directors could get by on $174,464 a year.

Regardless of his motives and excuses, there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. The mayor is doing it the wrong way.