Jim Kenney

Early life

Jim Kenney grew up the oldest of four in the Whitman neighborhood of South Philadelphia. His father was a firefighter and his mother was a homemaker. His parents both worked second jobs to put Jim and his four siblings through private Catholic schools. In high school, Kenney was a newspaper deliveryman and busboy. Kenney graduated from Saint Joseph's Preparatory School in 1976 and in 1980 received a political science bachelor's degree from La Salle University. He was the first in his family to graduate from college.

Philadelphia City Council

Kenney was elected to his first term in 1991 when he was just 32 years old. 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.

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

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. Philadelphia became the largest city in the country to decriminalize pot.

Kenney garnered criticism from local and national economic commentators when he proposed bonus pension payments, distributing funds when pension plans exceed target returns in any given year even though solvency depends on retaining above-average earnings to prepare for years with below-average earnings.

While on the Philadelphia City Council, Kenney worked as a consultant at Vitetta Architects and Engineers, served on the Independence Blue Cross board, and was an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He gave up these positions when he was elected Mayor in 2015.

2015 Election

Incumbent Democratic party Mayor Michael Nutter could not run for re-election to a third consecutive term due to term limits in the city's home rule charter. Registered Democrats hold a formidable 7-to-1 ratio over registered Republicans in Philadelphia, giving Democratic candidates a distinct advantage in citywide elections. The mayoral primary elections were held on May 19, 2015. Democrats nominated Jim Kenney as their party's nominee. Kenney won the primary in a landslide with 55.83% of the vote, defeating a crowded field of five other Democratic candidates, including Anthony H. Williams and former District Attorney Lynn Abraham. Republican Melissa Murray Bailey, a business executive, ran unopposed for the Republican nomination. Kenney won a whopping 85.1% of the vote. Kenney was inaugurated as the 99th Mayor of Philadelphia on January 4, 2016.

Sugary drinks tax

Kenney proposed the a citywide soda tax that would raise the price of soda at three cents per ounce, originally with the intent to raise money for universal pre-k. At the time, it was the biggest soda tax proposal in the United States. Kenney promoted using tax revenue to fund universal pre-K, jobs, and development projects, which he expected would raise $400 million over five years, all the while reducing sugar intake by decreasing the demand for sugary beverages Kenney's soda tax proposal was brought to the national spotlight and divided key members of the Democratic Party. The idea of a soda tax quickly became a national issue. Candidates in the 2016 United States presidential election gave their take. Senator Bernie Sanders said that the tax would hurt the poor. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, said that she was "very supportive" of the idea. The lobbying organization American Beverage Association took a stand against Kenney's proposal. The trade organization, funded by soda companies and distributors, ran local television, radio, and newspaper advertisements against the idea, claiming that the tax would disproportionately hurt the poor. The American Heart Association, on the other hand, has supported Kenney's efforts. On June 16, 2016, the soda tax passed with a 13-4 vote from City Council. The initial proposal of three cents per ounce was lowered to 1.5 cents per ounce. The tax was implemented at the start of the 2017 calendar year.

Response

After the tax took effect, Kenney said it was "wrong" and "misleading" for businesses to pass the tax on to their customers in the form of higher soda prices. In February 2017, soda manufacturers and retailers announced sales declines of 30-50% in Philadelphia and announced job cuts and layoffs, while the tax was projected to raise about $2.7 million per month, far below the estimate of $7.6 million per month. Kenny characterized the layoffs as evidence of greed among manufacturers.

In March 2017, Pepsi announced plans to lay off between 80 and 100 employees, and blamed this on the tax. The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted city spokeswoman Lauren Hitt as saying, "The soda industry sunk to a new low today... They are literally holding hostage the jobs of hard-working people in their battle to overturn the tax. Pepsi reported nearly $35 billion in gross income and $6 billion in profit last year.... The idea that they can afford to do that but ‘must lay off workers’ should make every Philadelphian very skeptical of whether these layoffs are actually due to the tax." However, the same article countered Hitt's comment about Pepsi's $6 billion in profit by reporting, "The layoffs will occur at plants in North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, and Wilmington. The plants are run as independent businesses required to report profits and losses to the company."

Opposition to Donald Trump

Before and after Donald Trump's election as United States President in 2016, Kenney has taken a vocal stand against President Trump and his policies. Kenney has maintained that Philadelphia will continue to act as a sanctuary city despite threats that cities would stop receiving federal funding. Kenney has also contended claims about Philadelphia's murder rate, which has been steadily decreasing and remaining stagnant in some instances. Trump said, "Here in Philadelphia, murder has been steady — I mean — just terribly increasing."

Kenney, along with Democratic colleagues Dwight Evans, Bob Casey, Jr., Helen Gym, and Tom Wolf, joined protesters at Philadelphia International Airport after Trump signed Executive Order 13769 to ban travel from seven majority-Muslim countries.

Feuds

Kenney is known for his outspoken feuds and reports on public figures or groups who attack his legislative agenda, image, or the city of Philadelphia. Kenney has been known as a candid and opinionated councilman and mayor, particularly on social media platforms like Twitter.

Archdiocese

Although a graduate of two Catholic schools — St. Joe's Prep and La Salle — Kenney has engaged in numerous feuds with the leadership of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Kenney mobilized numerous gay rights legislation during his time in the Philadelphia City Council, many of which were criticized by Catholic leaders in the city. Notably, Kenney joined the debate over the abrupt firing of a beloved faculty member at Waldron Mercy Academy in Merion who came out as gay. In a Philadelphia Inquirer story, Kenney accused the “cowardly men” in the Archdiocese of orchestrating the firing: “If you’re a church official and you feel that strongly that this woman and her partner are such a threat to society, stand up and say so,” Kenney told the paper. In a 2014 tweet, Kenney stated, "The Arch [sic] don't care about people. It's about image and money. Pope Francis needs to kick some ass here!"

Sports talk radio

Philadelphia sports radio host Howard Eskin has used his talk show to blast Kenney and his authorization of the sugary drinks tax. In April 2017, Kenney appeared on Eskin's network, 94.1 WIP, to contend his claims and promote the 2017 NFL draft in Philly. Kenney attacked Eskin, saying, "Here's what I don't understand about Eskin. First of all, he's in that prime spot of 8-10 a.m. on Saturday mornings...I mean like, it's like the show should be called 'The Sound of One Hand Clapping.' Cause no one hears it." Kenney also jokingly said that he would handle things differently with Eskin if he weren’t mayor. “If we were regular people sitting at a bar and he was doing that to me, there would be a consequence,” Kenney said. “But because I am an elected official, I can’t do it.”

Chris Christie

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a self-proclaimed Dallas Cowboys fan, has frequently slammed the Philadelphia Eagles, one of the Cowboy's biggest rivals. In early 2017, Christie hastily generalized Philadelphia fans, calling them "angry, awful people," and said Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies, "is not safe for civilized people." Kenney went on a local sports talk radio program to respond to Christie's claims. "He's got the biggest 'L' on his forehead of anybody in the country," Kenney said on SportsRadio 94.1. "He ran for president for one hot-mess minute and then when that was over he was moon-dogging Trump thinking he was going to get a big job," Kenney said. "Now I think he's just bitter and has got nowhere to go. Who's going to hire him? I just think he's just done," Kenney said. "Bullies always lose, and he's a bully."

Personal life

Kenney has two adult-aged children, Nora and Brendan, with his wife Maureen. Kenney and Maureen have been separated since 2010.

Kenney first made his relationship with Letitia Santarelli public when she accompanied him to Iceland as part of a cultural exchange to mark the first-ever direct flights between Reykjavik and Philadelphia in 2017. Santarelli was the head coach of the St. John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic school, taking the school to the state championship. The couple started dating in 2015.