Washington, DC
May 14, 2001

David Broder, in my opinion, is the best political journalist in the nation. They don't get any better.

This week he raises the question as to whether or not the Bush Administration has urban policy as a high priority. He says that Paul Grogan told him HUD Secretary Mel Martinez is well briefed and supportive of initiatives that go beyond the confines of HUD. But the question David Broder raises is whether or not President Bush is working with mayors and cities. He implies that they are not. He bases his statement on the response the Bush Administration gave to Paul Grogan's group called CEO's for Cities. Many groups come forward on a regular basis. Sometimes it's hard to judge a White House on the grounds that they haven't paid attention to this group or that group.

Apparently David Broder or Mr. Grogan is not aware of exactly what the Bush Administration is doing with the nation's mayors. Because I have received a number of calls from mayors and members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Business Council, I feel as the Executive Director of the Conference the need to provide some brief history and facts about what my President Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles, our leadership, and members are doing in partnership with the Bush Administration and the nation's CEOs.

As Jack Webb on the old Dragnet TV show used to say, "Just the Facts."

Our 10-Point Plan: January 2000

Following extensive meetings among mayors, corporate leaders and public-sector partners, immediate past president of the Conference Wellington E. Webb of Denver released a 10-point plan entitled "A New Agenda for America's Cities." The plan was presented to the National Press Club, taken to Wall Street as part of our metro economies release, and ratified at the January 2000 Winter Meeting of the Conference of Mayors.

Following release of the 10-point plan, Conference President Webb summoned representatives from both the Bush and Gore campaigns to come to our Leadership Meeting in Key West, Florida to discuss our agenda. Governor Bush dispatched former Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, his domestic policy advisor during the campaign, who engaged with the mayors in substantive discussions on mayoral priorities to be included in the Bush agenda.

68th Annual Conference in Seattle: June 2000

Following Key West, I personally established communications with key mayors and senior Bush campaign advisor Karl Rove in order to secure the participation of Governor Bush at our Annual Meeting in Seattle.

At our 68th Annual Meeting, Governor Bush as a candidate for President addressed the mayors via live satellite and took questions. He also released at that time his "Urban Agenda for the 21st Century" which reflected many of our policies, and he assured us that, if he was elected, mayors would have access to his administration.

Boise/Sun Valley Leadership Meeting: September 2000

Following our annual meeting, our new President Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles held a special Leadership Meeting in Idaho and again Stephen Goldsmith came and said the Bush Administration would embrace our agenda during extensive policy discussions with the mayors. We saw real signs of this when during the second Presidential debate, Governor Bush spoke eloquently about the need to cleanup and redevelop brownfields, while Vice President Gore did not mention the issue during the debate. This was a missed opportunity for the Vice President.

Bush Becomes President: January 2001

And then we all suffered through the election. To be honest we did not have the traditional transition process we had planned for, but once Bush was declared our President, the Bush team played catch-up. They began by sending Deputy White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten to speak openly at our Advisory Board dinner during our Winter Meeting, where he stressed that this would not be a "slash and burn administration." And when challenged about the lack of access the mayors had experienced in previous Republican administrations, and the incredible access during the Clinton Administration, Mr. Bolten pledged,"It will be even better." We thought that night that this was a heady statement for one to make in light of the way President Clinton opened our White House to us.

President Bush was sworn in on January 20. Several days later, he called our President Mayor Coles and pledged to work with the nation's mayors. Then, just 12 days later, Conference President H. Brent Coles took Conference staff into the West Wing of the White House for an in-depth discussion with President Bush's top domestic policy team including Deputy Chief of Staff Bolten, Advisor to the President for Domestic Policy Margaret LaMontagne, and Deputy Policy Advisor John Bridgeland. The hour and a half meeting covered all of the urban/metro issues facing American cities today. It is one thing to have had many meetings with intergovernmental personnel, but it is another to have an in-depth deliberation with the top White House policy team at the same table with all of their brains working toward a consensus. And they were working off Mayor Coles' and the Conference of Mayors' "Priorities for the New American City" agenda, line by line.

For what it's worth, Mr. Grogan should know that our Vice President Mayor Marc Morial of New Orleans and Conference staff also met with Secretary Martinez on that same day, and we agree with Mr. Grogan that Secretary Martinez wants to involve HUD with other agencies in an action agenda which will support broader issues such as smart growth.

Bolten, Mineta and Barrales in Key West: February 2001

Once the key Cabinet was sworn in, the Bush Administration again sent representatives to our Leadership Meeting in Key West. Deputy Chief of Staff Bolten came and discussed our entire agenda for several hours with extensive questioning. Two days prior to our meeting, President Bush announced that Ruben Barrales was to be his Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. We thought that Mr. Barrales should be with us and Mr. Bolten agreed. So we flew Mr. Barrales overnight to meet with mayors as one of his very first acts. These were extensive discussions and the brownfield initiative was very much on the minds of both the mayors and the Administration.

In addition to the two top White House officials, President Bush sent Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta to discuss our recent Rails Summit held with Mayor Livingstone of London and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, and of course aviation/airports was also one of the top challenges we discussed with the new Secretary.

These were all good meetings. Press was not invited so that we had an opportunity for give and take sessions as well as time for our leadership to discuss priorities with these officials in the evenings.

Brownfields, 99-0 in Senate: April 25, 2001

These internal meetings were wonderful, but at the same time mayors and skeptics of the Administration wanted to see some action on top Conference priorities such as the brownfields legislation which we had been pushing since 1994 but never could get off the ground. We were most encouraged when President Bush sent the new EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman to join with Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Mayors Marc H. Morial of New Orleans and Pat McCory of Charlotte to publicly endorse our brownfields bill, S. 350 in a significant press event. David Broder has raised the question of having a partner. In the Washington political scene, there are partners and there are partners. My definition of a partner is one who will stand up before the TV cameras and then go on to Capitol Hill and help move a bill forward. This President did what he promised during the debate, and this President is doing something about vacant lots that have existed since the riots of the '60s and to help bring people back into our cities.

The fact is that on April 25, with the support of President Bush and key Republicans and Democrats in the Senate - our Brownfield bill passed 99-0. Mr. Broder says the President craves bipartisan support. Well it doesn't get any better than a 99-0 vote.

Mayors and CEOs in the White House: April 5, 2001

I guess by now it is clear that we are encouraged by the progress we have had so far - it gets better. On April 4-5, for the first time in history, mayors came together with CEOs for a Summit on Investment in The New American Cities. For two days CEOs and mayors worked together, culminating in Conference President Coles taking mayors and CEOs to meet with the President in the White House. Prior to a larger meeting, our officers Mayors Brent Coles of Boise, Marc H. Morial of New Orleans, Thomas M. Menino of Boston, Victor Ashe of Knoxville and I met with President Bush in the Oval Office to discuss our budget priorities, as well as brownfields, education, faith-based issues and parks. We also stressed the need for him to be with us in Detroit in June for our 69th Annual Conference of Mayors.

The President left the Oval Office and met with CEOs and mayors in the Rose Garden where he discussed five priorities which he said would help continue the renewal of cities: better education, broader home ownership, faster economic growth, easier environmental cleanup, and stronger communities and charities.

In commenting on what is happening in America's cities, the President said this: "When we look at our cities, we see our highest aspirations, our incredible diversity, our greatest achievements and our most pressing challenges. Across America, in cities large and small, a generation of bold and reforming mayors have restored safety to streets and restored prosperity to our nation's downtowns. And for that, our country is grateful."

Mayor Coles said during the Summit that mayors and CEOs going to the White House together, "represents the new coalition which is driving the renaissance of America's cities." Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley said, "Our guiding philosophy is that government alone cannot and will not create economic growth in our city. What government can do is use its limited resources to make private investment possible, using public dollars to leverage private capital and to support workforce development." And this from Andrew Woodward, Chair of Bank of America Mortgage and President of the Mortgage Bankers of America, "We believe that cities are coming back..."

Clearly, the President, our mayors and corporate partners believe that we are on the right track.

69th Annual Conference in Detroit: June 22-26, 2001

As we approach our 69th Annual Conference in Detroit, we have invited President Bush to participate. We have also invited the Cabinet, Congressional leaders, and top CEOs. We will continue to work with the Administration, Congress and the business community to implement the priority agenda items as developed by President Coles and our membership.

While this Administration is just passing its first 100 days and is in its infancy, considering the nine White Houses I have worked with in my career we are much further along. We all know that we have a long way to go - there will be times when we will agree, times when we agree to disagree, and times when we must fight. The point is that we must give credit where credit is due, and we believe that the Administration, Congress and our visionary mayors provide the best of the best in meeting the challenges to making cities more competitive as they continue to be the engines of our national economy.

The nation's CEO's have told us that they will be with us as we go forward, as evidenced by the fact that we have 75 members of our Mayors Business Council and have formed our new vibrant Council for Investment in the New American City.

We have also formed an important alliance with the Great Cities-Universities Coalition which will be yielding additional action-oriented research in support of our agenda. We thank Mayor Coles for his leadership on these historic initiatives.

Our incoming President New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial will announce next month that the Conference of Mayors, joined by CEOs, will kick off a national tour promoting Competitive Cities. We welcome this challenge. The national press continue to report the shift of population coming back to cities. This didn't just happen. The fact is that entrepreneurial mayors have provided leadership and vision.

This Competitive City tour will be a great opportunity for our organization to celebrate the New American City. The nation's mayors will support Mayor Morial as he goes forward with our continued agenda which focuses on the investment and strengthened partnerships needed to keep our local economies vibrant and our nation the strongest on earth.