Jim Kenney

Jim Kenney

Kenney in 2009
99th Mayor of Philadelphia
Assumed office
January 4, 2016
Preceded by Michael Nutter
Member of the Philadelphia City Council from the At-Large District
In office
January 6, 1992 – January 29, 2015
Preceded by George Burrell
Succeeded by Helen Gym
Personal details
Born (1958-08-07) August 7, 1958
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Political party Democratic
Alma mater La Salle University

James Francis "Jim" Kenney (born August 7, 1958) is an American Democratic politician, former member of the City Council of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. He was the Democratic nominee for Mayor of Philadelphia in the 2015 election, having won the crowded primary election by a landslide on May 19, 2015.[1] On November 3, 2015 he was elected Mayor of Philadelphia, defeating his Republican rival Melissa Murray Bailey.[1]

Kenney, who was first elected to the Philadelphia City Council in 1991, held his At-Large Council seat for 23 years from January 1992 until January 29, 2015, when he resigned from the City Council to launch his candidacy for Mayor of Philadelphia.[2][3][4]

Biography

Kenney graduated from Saint Joseph's Preparatory School in 1976. He received a bachelor's degree from La Salle University in Philadelphia.[3]

Philadelphia City Council

During his time on Philadelphia's City Council, Kenney served as Chairman of the Council Committee on Labor and Civil Service. He was also Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Rules, Committee on the Environment, and Committee on Law and Government, and was a member of the Committee on Public Safety, Technology and Information Services, Public Property and Public Works, Fiscal Stability and Intergovernmental Cooperation, Public Health and Human Services, and the Legislative Oversight Committee.[5]

In 2010, Kenney sided with the local firefighters’ union when Mayor Nutter took action to remove the collective bargaining rights of paramedics.[6]

In 2014, Kenney successfully introduced legislation that ended arrests for possession of small amounts of marijuana. The bill replaced incarceration with the requirement to pay a fine. In advocating for the bill, Kenney had cited the disproportionate effect of arrests for small amounts of marijuana on African-Americans.[7]

On the council, Kenney enacted fiscal policies like "bonus" pension payments (distributing funds when pension plans exceed target returns in any given year even though solvency depends on the excess funds to balance underperforming years) which national economic commentators have called "numerically illiterate" and "insane" while the practice has been identified as directly contributing to the bankruptcy of Detroit.[8] Closer to home, Philadelphia's own Financial Director referred to Kenney's maneuver as merely "fiscally irresponsible." [9]

References

  1. 1 2 Hepp, Chris (2015-05-20). "Landslide: Kenney romps in Philly mayor's race". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  2. ↑ Spinelli, Dan (2015-01-29). "Jim Kenney resigns from City Council, eyes mayoral bid". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  3. 1 2 Blumenthal, Jeff (2015-01-27). "Jim Kenney to resign from City Council; mayoral bid looms". Philadelphia Business Journal. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  4. ↑ Dunn, Mike (2015-01-29). "Jim Kenney Ends 23-Year Career as Councilman, Ahead of Mayoral Run". KYW-TV. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  5. ↑ "James F. Kenney - Councilman-At-Large". City of Philadelphia official website. City Council, City of Philadelphia. 2010-02-15. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
  6. ↑ "Kenney vs. Nutter on Paramedics". Philly.com. Philly.com. 2010-10-08. Retrieved 2015-05-24.
  7. ↑ "Small Amount of Marijuana Is Not Worth an Arrest". Metro. Metro. 2015-01-21. Retrieved 2015-05-24.
  8. ↑ http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-16/why-would-anyone-follow-detroit-s-pension-plan-
  9. ↑ http://articles.philly.com/2015-02-12/news/59048351_1_pension-fund-pension-payments-kenney

External links


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