Mayor Nutter: Romney's record not 'particularly great;' offers perspective on fixing economy

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter says investment and tax reform are critical in getting the economy back on track. In his interview with CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, he also offers his take on the records of President Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney.

Mayor Nutter says, “I think the critical issues are really revolve around education and innovation, jobs, economic opportunity and certainly tax reform as components of how you move America in the right direction…. That's about getting a transportation bill passed that is long term in nature, improving infrastructure, bridges, roads, schools, putting people back to work. As well as supporting workforce development and job training programs. That's what moves this country and that's what the U.S. Conference of Mayors is all about. That is what we need to hear from the two candidates.”

He adds, “But as the mayor of Philadelphia, what I have seen is, we received a number of grants from the government to actually put police officers back on the payroll through the cops program. This is really about who has a long term vision for making America work. We've seen 27 months of private sector job growth, 4 million jobs created under the Obama administration and different kind of record by Mr. Romney, whether as governor of Massachusetts or his time at Bain Capital, which was not a particularly great record. But we're going to hear a lot of things during the course of the campaign. I think we need to separate fact from fiction and make sure people are paying attention to what's going on and we're fully engaged in the campaign season.”

Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs weekday mornings from 7-9am ET on CNN.