Nutter Joins National Income Inequality Task Force

Comes just a week after he reversed course on paid sick leave.

Remember last week when we were trying to figure out why Mayor Nutter suddenly reversed course on his long-held position against requiring businesses to offer paid sick leave to their employees? Maybe we have some additional insight into the reasoning.

Because over the weekend, it was announced Mayor Nutter was joining a number of mayors — led by New York’s Bill de Blasio — that will take aim at income inequality in the United States and try to figure out how urban governments can use their tools to alleviate it.

Just a guess: It wasn’t going to look good for somebody for Nutter to talk about the plight of America’s poor workers while being the only obstacle to them getting a relatively minor benefit in Philadelphia.

Anyway, here’s what Nutter has to say about being on the task force:

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said: “I am pleased to join Mayors de Blasio and Johnson and a host of other mayors from across the country to tackle inequality in America’s cities. Cities are incubators of change and innovation, and mayors are at the forefront of it all — we get things done. Providing equitable opportunity directly correlates to the success of our cities, our regions and our country. As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, ‘We are all tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.’ The time to act and address issues of inequality in our cities is now.”

Or last December. But who’s counting?