Washington, DC
February 9, 2007

There is a positive feeling amongst mayors from all regions and all parties as they leave our 75th Winter Meeting. There is a different level of interest and attitude toward the new Congress. In recent years, Congress has put us in a defensive mood and attitude, the feeling that a “win” was to save something, to protect something — to beat back those political forces that would destroy the last vestiges of the domestic policy placed by previous Presidents and previous Congresses.

Early signals, meetings, and the messages delivered to us at this Winter Meeting gives us a sign of hope and further, a cause for mobilization and political action. As the new mayor of Oakland, a political veteran Ron Dellums said, “2007 is the moment for the mayors.”

The game is changing. It is offense time. It is a time we can have “wins.” We can restore the partnerships we once had with previous Congresses that have been sent to Washington.

No one understands this better than your new President, Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer. After he became our President on December 6, he moved quickly to lead us to Speaker Pelosi, and the new chairpersons in the House and the Senate. As the leader of the Democratic mayors, he has been with the Democratic Congressional leaders in their long winter of minority politics in the Congress. While he moved to seize the moment and capture the day, he was strong in his instructions to staff that we remember, praise and support our Republican leaders in Congress, such as Ohio Congressman Mike Turner and Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman, who have supported us to save CDBG and other priority initiatives. And so, we had been meeting already with Congressional leaders even before our Winter Meeting and we felt they were listening. And while listening is better than indifference, it’s only the first step toward getting something done.

We recognized we needed a reasonable 2007 plan of action, and we developed our 2007 10-Point Plan. We presented it to Congress before the mayors came to town.

Upon receiving it and studying it, Speaker Pelosi came and stood before our Winter Meeting holding up the copy of our 10-Point Plan and went through every point. It was, in my opinion, a most significant political event. Democratic and Republican leaders followed her endorsing and supporting our 10-Point Plan.

It is now up to us to provide the mobilization and political action to make things happen. Congressional leaders and chairpersons across the board are reaching out to us. They need us because they know the American electorate is as we used to say down home - “all worked up.” The American people, as expressed in the November elections, are fed up with the way some in Congress abused the power and became even more, as time passed, irrelevant to their daily lives.

Mayor Ron Dellums also described the political turbulence today as ”a perfect storm for mayors.”

We must recognize the power we have. We must recognize the political leadership we have with our mayors. We must recognize that the same people who are upset with Congress are not upset with our mayors. We must recognize that it is the mayors who have the trust and political know-how to lead millions of American people and change human behavior to benefit our nation.

President Palmer is standing up for a new domestic policy not just for this brief shining moment of the new Congress, but he is also looking at the 2008 Presidential horizon. Never before have the people of America been so lined up to the priorities of the mayors as manifested in our organization, The United States Conference of Mayors.

The political pundits and gurus, corporate America and the new Congress are waking up to the fact that mayors can and do and will make a difference.

Mayor Palmer is leading the way. Other mayors — the veterans and the rookies, all powerful positive leaders, preside over millions of Americans in our cities who are looking for answers, wanting friendship and positive results from their governments. These mayors are standing behind and with Mayor Palmer encouraging him to be bold for American families and American cities. He and our leadership will need your help as we move forward. There is renewed energy amongst our mayors, all working individually and working in teams on task forces and committees within our organization.

The mayors’ energy has also given our staff a new kind of energy to take this opportunity to bring this bipartisan force of mayors to gain ground and win some for our mayors, our cities and our people.

At this time, we ask your close attention to our request for political action as we engage on a number of fronts. Together, we can make a difference in 2007 and push forward to a greater extent our agenda in the 2008 Presidential sweepstakes. But we must not overlook what we can do today — now. This is our moment. Let’s seize it or it will vanish like a vapor in thin air. Let’s keep the new attitude of hope we experienced at our 75th Winter Meeting strong. Lets use our political minds as we work hard in the coming weeks to follow through on the promises made by the new Congress to establish a new partnership for positive political action and results all for a Strong America, Strong Cities and Strong Families.