Emperor Kenney has no smiles

“Kenney has never fully embraced the public part of being a public official.He rarely smiles and is often snippy and surly. He reads speeches straight from the script and does not try to hide his often grumpy and detached look.”

No, gentle reader, that is not my writing, although it sure seems like it. It is part of a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial published on July 7.

This was in the wake of the infamous remark made by the mayor after the July 4 shooting, where he told a reporter he looks forward to no longer being mayor.

Here is the transaction:

““You’re looking forward to not being mayor?” a reporter asked.

“Yeah, as a matter of fact,” Kenney replied.

We feel the same, I added.

It was a stupid thing for him to say and later had to retract it saying he was “frustrated.”

But by then the hyenas were circling, with wannabe mayors and others calling for him to resign.

As if.

Well, six years into his tenure and the paper of record finally figured it out.

Until my retirement in July 2019, I was one of the few the only staffer to regularly oppose Jim Kenney.

My opposition had two arms — policy and personality.

His first term’s signature achievement was the so-called soda (or sugary drink) tax, which wound up driving up prices on some 4,000 grocery products, including diet drinks.Hard to believe, but true, as you can see here.

It had the questionable effect of causing at least one large supermarket to close.

It did add about 4,000 pre-K seats and some recreational improvements are in the pipeline.

Then there’s Kenney crocodile tears after every shooting,  with him blaming Harrisburg for not enough laws, rather than the murderous mindset of too many Philadelphians. Kenney’s too busy whining about H-burg and the NRA to do anything about the sociopaths among us.

As to personality… I remember when Kenney lived in South Philly, was a Councilman with a particular interest in quality of life issues.

He was a fun-loving guy, with a capacity for both red faced anger, and explosive laughter.

We were friends.

But then he went to Progressive Reeducation Camp and came out woke.

He left his wife, left South Philly, turned on the cops and his life-long Mummer friends, and set up a Sanctuary City to protect those here illegally, even those convicted of felonies.

He thinks there aren’t enough gun laws, but too many immigration laws. So he ignores them and sticks his thumb in the eye of law enforcement.

In recent years a (very) few other journalists noted that he seemed to be sour and unhappy, just going through the motions. 

Now even the editorial page has reported on it. 

Whatever star he had has eclipsed.

I think he and Joe Biden will be sharing a cabin in the Poconos before long.