Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter named nine members to a new Ethics Task Force aimed at fulfilling one of his campaign promises to root out corruption in city government.

The Task Force, established by Executive Order on September 24, 2008, will perform a comprehensive review of the City’s campaign finance ordinance (including provisions related to no-bid contracts); public campaign financing laws in other jurisdictions; City Solicitor and Ethics Board opinions; and additional ethics reforms for City Government with a particular focus on nepotism, outside employment, gifts and lobbying. It shall hold at least one public hearing to gather information and recommendations from the public and will report to the Mayor and the Council President no later than February 1, 2009.

The task force will be led by mayor-appointee Michael Schwartz, former head of the Corruption, Civil Rights, Labor and Tax Fraud Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

In addition to Mr. Schwartz, members of the task force include:

* Nolan Atkinson Jr., a partner with Duane Morris LLP and the firm’s chief diversity officer;

* Stephanos Bibas, law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School;

* Heidi Gold, director of communications at Ross Associates, Inc. and former president of the League of Women Voters;

* Brian McCormick, partner at Sheller P.C. and board member of the Committee of Seventy;

* Elizabeth McElroy, assistant to the president and political director of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO;

* Al Mezzaroba, former president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Convention Center;

* Stephanie Resnick, partner at Fox Rothschild LLP and chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s board of governors;

* Edward Turzanski, senior fellow with the Center for Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security at the Foreign Police Research Institute.

See the Mayor’s press release