Philly Plain Dealer

The executive order is the purest and easiest power to exercise in American politics. Bills require votes, some goals need support from unions and coalitions, but executive orders are exactly what they say they are, orders from the executive.

In 2024, her first year in office, Mayor Cherelle Parker signed thirteen executive orders. These thirteen executive orders do things like establish an Office for LGBTQ+ Affairs and four more government offices, declaring a fire in Rhawnhurst a disaster, and declaring shootings a Public Safety Emergency. 

Parker, intentionally or unintentionally, has joined a tradition dating back to Mayor Wilson Goode in 1984. Five of the last six Philadelphia Mayors have implemented double digit executive orders in their first year in office. 

Since 1984, all but Mayor John Street in 2000 immediately moved into office and began signing executive orders. Parker pushed through thirteen, which was the most since Mayor Kenney’s first year in office (2016) when he signed thirteen. Mayors Parker, Kenney, Nutter, Rendell, and Goode all signed double digit executive orders in their first year in office. Parker’s future use of this power is unknown, however for each of the other Mayors mentioned in this trend, their first year in office was the most executive orders they had signed in one year. 

If tradition sticks, Mayor Parker will not exceed thirteen executive orders in a calendar year. The only Mayor to come close was Michael Nutter who signed fifteen executive orders in 2008, and then again in 2011. 

Executive orders are an easy way for newly elected Mayors to accomplish their goals while they get used to the job. It is the easiest lever to pull while a Mayor figures out the lay of the land. Interestingly enough, Mayor Joseph S. Clark in 1952 issued more executive orders than anyone in the last 70+ years signing nineteen in 1952. Executive orders were far less common from 1950 to 1980, following the nineteen signed in 1952 by Clark no one signed more than three executive orders in a calendar year until 1984. 

The executive orders Clark signed in 1952 have had lasting effects on the current government, signing into effect things like granting the Department of Recreation control over the City’s parks and rearranging the departments of the government according to the (then) new City Charter. 

Five of the last six Philly Mayors have followed this strategy of front loading their time in office with executive orders. This is something to keep in mind when a new Mayor steps into City Hall, whether that’s in 2028 or 2032.