Washington, DC
April 7, 2006

Ashe Receives Conference of Mayors Poland Mission

Conference President Beverly O’Neill led a delegation of Mayors to meet with U.S. Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe this past month. Ambassador Ashe put together a most political meeting for his former mayoral colleagues. It is unique to meet with the President of the nation visited. This year, thanks to Mayor Ashe we had extensive meetings with the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski.

Mayor Ashe also honored mayors in his embassy residence with a sit-down dinner with four full-rank Ambassadors from Israel, China, New Zealand and Bulgaria.

We continued our discussion from last year with the American Chamber of Commerce and discussed future sessions involving Polish mayors.

We are most fortunate to have the former mayor of Knoxville and former President of our organization, Victor Ashe, as our Ambassador. He is working as hard in his job as Ambassador as he did when he was our President and the Mayor of Knoxville. In his offices there is a Polish map with orange dot stickers over each Polish city he has visited. The orange dots dominate the map. There aren’t many cities left that Ambassador Ashe has not visited. He is redefining the role of the American Ambassador to Poland. His activity prompted the President of Poland to jokingly tell president Bush that he thinks Victor Ashe is running for President of Poland. Again, we appreciate the incredible job he is doing for all of us and we most sincerely appreciate Ambassador Ashe’s personal contribution to our missions to Poland. And we look forward to more.

In Los Angeles last week we worked two agendas.

The first meeting was our Poverty Task Force meeting chaired by Conference President O’Neill and our Task Force Chair, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Mayors heard from experts in the field and raised questions and offered best practices as they are working to bring all their citizens to decent jobs for a more productive life. The Poverty, Work and Opportunity Task Force is in its infancy even though we have been challenged with the issue of poverty and jobs throughout every decade since USCM was founded in 1933.

Mayor Villaraigosa and Mayor O’Neill are leading the mayors request for a national conversation in redefining poverty in America. And they will come forth with an action plan as we gather in Las Vegas in June for our 74th Annual Meeting.

The second day in Los Angeles brought focus on the gangs challenge mayors face in our cities. While law enforcement was stressed, mayors also are aware of the lack of training offered on the front-end and other preventive alternatives that are needed.

We were most fortunate to have Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales with us. He pledged to our incoming President, Dearborn Mayor Michael Guido that he wants us to continue with our partnership with the Department of Justice in providing support for our Community Policing Center.

We are continuing our plans and getting tremendous support for our Mayors Energy Summit in Chicago May 10-12. No doubt, it will be a landmark meeting and it won’t be our last. There is an enormous amount of innovations and new best practices in the energy field that is happening in cities across America. This is the first step — our beginning – as we go forward to share and lead the way in forging an energy policy with practical solutions to this critical challenge before us.

The Conference of Mayors, its members and staff, were shocked to get the news of two outstanding mayors who are leaving our ranks.

Newark Mayor Sharpe James, a strong leader within the Conference of Mayors and former President of The National League of Cities, has announced he will not seek reelection. In New Jersey, mayors can serve as Members of the State Legislatures and Mayor James will remain a State Senator in the New Jersey Legislature. So while he won’t be in Newark City Hall after his term, we know he will be there continuing his fight for Newark, N.J. and cities throughout the nation.

We were also shocked to learn that Scott King was resigning as Mayor of Gary, Indiana. Mayor King has been most active with us and in fact he leaves office as he was ascending toward higher offices within the Conference maybe to the top to be President of the Conference. But opportunities do arrive in one’s life and no doubt Mayor King’s decision was the right thing for Mayor King and his family at this time. Mayors in the Conference are most appreciative for the wisdom and service he has given to the Conference. We know that he is a most honorable friend and respected public servant that already has given so much. We all thank him for his service to our organization and wish him, Irene and family the very best.

Our 74th Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, June 2-6 is fast approaching. Less than two months away, it is a meeting you don’t want to miss. As mayors you must be there with us. Please register now online at: http://usmayors.org/registration. Or you may complete your registration and room reservation forms and fax them to the meetings department at 202-467-4276 - Attention: Carol Edwards, Director, Conferences and Conventions.