Washington, DC
April 23, 2004

Ashe/Poland

Mayors and staff are very pleased to learn that President George W. Bush has sent to the United States Senate the official papers required to ask the Senate to approve his nomination of former Mayor Victor Ashe of Knoxville (TN) to be our Ambassador to Poland. President Bush recognizes the incredible resource we all have in a person such as Victor Ashe. Mayor Ashe, a former President of our organization, always has had an incredible thirst of inquiry and understanding of peoples throughout the globe. Throughout his political life and personal life Mayor Ashe has pursued a desire for travel to remote as well as well-known places that have given him a perspective that goes well beyond the city of Knoxville and the United States of America.

Today, Poland is in a pivotal place in our history as it moves forward as a major player in NATO and the European community. As other nations such as Spain and Honduras pull out of our coalition in the USA war in Iraq, Poland stands with us along with the British and other USA allies.

Democratic and Republican mayors join together to support Mayor Victor Ashe as the Senate confirmation process begins. Mayor Ashe, throughout his political life, as the Mayor of Knoxville and as President of The United States Conference of Mayors, has exhibited the strong sense of bipartisanship on issues that have come before him as Mayor and our President. Therefore, we hope that Democratic Senators, along with Republican Senators, will rise above the terrible aura of partisanship that permeates Washington nowadays, and approve President Bush's nomination of Mayor Ashe to be our next envoy to Warsaw. Poland today needs an Ambassador with the credentials of Mayor Victor Ashe. Our nation needs Ambassadors like Mayor Victor Ashe. We know of Mayor Ashe's strong relationship with President George W. Bush. Mayors, Democratic and Republican, also know about the wide depth that Mayor Ashe has to represent our nation in Warsaw as we need more friends in the European community. The response we have received of President Bush's decision to ask Mayor Ashe to serve as our Ambassador to Poland is most gratifying. As the nomination process begins, mayors from every region of our nation will inform their Senators of their overwhelming support to support our President's need to have a person in Warsaw who understands and appreciates the geo- political aspect of today's tough international challenges.

So our hats are off, saluting and supporting his nomination to make Mayor Ashe the next USA Ambassador to Poland. We thank President Bush in recognizing just how important it is to have former Mayor Victor Ashe in Warsaw at this special and critical time of a most turbulent period in recent history.

Garner/Rome/Vatican

Conference President James A. Garner will be in Rome at the Vatican next month to report to His Holiness Pope John Paul II and His Eminence Cardinal Francis Arinze on our four-nation mission to Africa last year. In Windhoek, Namibia during that mission African Mayors along with USA Mayors agreed that USCM President Garner should officially thank the Vatican and representatives of the Catholic Church for the tremendous help it has played in alleviating pain and suffering of Africans as a result of the HIV AIDS pandemic in the nations of Africa.

Boston 72nd Annual Meeting/Bush/Kerry

We have invited both President Bush and Senator John Kerry to speak to mayors assembled at our Annual Conference of Mayors in Boston June 25-29. Presently both Presidential candidates are in play. Please follow through on the message I sent to you earlier asking you to send a letter to President Bush and Senator Kerry urging them to address us in Boston. President Bush came to our Winter Meeting and addressed us last January. Senator Kerry has spoken to our group before but not as the presumptive presidential nominee of the National Democratic Party. It is most important for us that both candidates address our bipartisan Conference of Mayors and present their vision for responding to the challenges and opportunities cities continue to face. So I ask all mayors, if you have not sent a letter to President Bush and Senator Kerry, please do so now. And thanks to those mayors who have sent letters.

And sign up now for Boston. It's going to be an Annual Meeting you do not want to miss. Please Contact Carol Edwards in Convention Services at 202-293-7330 for information and registration forms.