David L. Cohen is Philadelphia's new chamber chairman

David L. Cohen, a lawyer of bounding ambition who was chief of staff to Mayor Rendell in the 1990s and is now a top executive with Comcast Corp., is taking his irrepressible energy to the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

He'll give his inaugural speech as chairman this morning at the group's annual meeting in Center City, and, Cohen says, there will be surprises.

The chamber's singular - and highly public - goal in recent years has been to browbeat City Hall into sticking with a schedule of cuts in business taxes.

But Cohen is pledging a new direction for his turn at the chairman post. Philadelphia is facing its most severe financial crisis since the early Rendell years. Mayor Nutter has said the five-year city deficit could reach $850 million.

Continued tax cuts for businesses probably shouldn't even be asked for, Cohen said.

He will call instead for the chamber to lobby Harrisburg legislators to boost state taxpayer funding for public education, which, Cohen said, eventually will improve the region's economic competitiveness.

A report commissioned by the General Assembly said in 2007 that there was a $4.4 billion funding shortfall in Pennsylvania public schools. Gov. Rendell and the legislators made a down payment on closing the shortfall with $274 million in additional education funding in the current fiscal year.

The amount has to be boosted each year to ultimately close the shortfall, but many fear the recession will sidetrack those plans.

"Not only is it the right thing to do, but it is absolutely essential for our businesses," Cohen said of boosting education funding. The chamber "cannot pursue an exclusively business agenda. We have to have a broader view of the vitality of the region and work in partnership with the government."

The goal also aligns the Republican-leaning business chamber with the political aims of his former boss, Rendell, a Democrat.

Mark Schweiker, a former Republican governor of Pennsylvania and chief executive officer of the chamber, believes the Philadelphia group could work with other Pennsylvania chambers to secure the extra education funding from Harrisburg.

Schweiker said Monday that the business group had to be realistic about cuts to business taxes in Philadelphia in a recession.

"We can live with a pause in the year ahead," he said. "We'll rock the boat, but we don't want to tip it over."

At the end of the day, he said, the chamber will remain focused on its core mission of advocating for businesses. "We are not a philanthropy," Schweiker said.

Cohen takes over as chairman from Joseph A. Frick, the head of Independence Blue Cross. Stephen D. Steinour, the former president of Citizens Financial Group Inc., was chairman before Frick. Chamber board members are unpaid.

Cohen, 53, an executive vice president at Comcast, has a portfolio at the cable giant that includes oversight of its vast lobbying and public relations arms. He also was chairman of the Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll L.L.P. law firm.

Cohen's office is on the 52d floor of Comcast's new Center City corporate tower. His baritone voice booms on a speakerphone, and he is legendary for long hours and tireless socializing around town.

Besides education funding, Cohen said he would expand the business chamber's internship program that places city high school students in paid private-sector jobs. The program grew from 441 students in 2006 to 1,049 in 2007. This summer, the program had 1,500 student participants.

Cohen also will launch the CEO Access Network, which will link the leaders of 10 minority- and women-owned businesses with top executives at large Philadelphia companies. The networking program is part of a several-year project to diversify the chamber. Cohen said: "We want to make women and minority business leaders part of the new old-boy network."

Entries from Cohen's

Oct. 14 planner:

5 to 6 a.m.: Work out at

Fit Life in Mount Airy.

7:45 to 8:15 a.m.: Conference call with the executive committee of

the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

8:30 to 9 a.m.: Meeting with Karen Buchholz, a Comcast vice president.

9:15 to 10:30 a.m.: Cable- operations meeting to review third-quarter results.

10:30 to 11 a.m.: Telephone call with Washington lobbying team.

11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.: Programming-operations meeting to review third- quarter results.

12:30 to 1:30 p.m.: Lunch.

1:30 to 2 p.m.: Interview job candidate.

3:09 p.m.: Take train to Washington.

5 to 6 p.m.: Meeting at Union Station.

6 to 6:45 p.m.: Attend fund-raiser for the Matthew 25 Network, a political action committee that raises money from Christians for Sen. Barack Obama.

7 p.m.: Return to Philadelphia on train.

9 p.m.: Dinner with Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois at Barclay Prime.

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