By Ed Somers
April 26, 2004

President George W. Bush has sent the official papers to the United States Senate nominating former Knoxville Mayor and Past President of The United States Conference of Mayors Victor Ashe to be the next Ambassador to Poland.

Ashe served as President of the Conference of Mayors from 1994-1995. He was first elected mayor in 1987, and served four terms over 16 years. In January of 2003, Ashe was presented the highest award given by the Conference of Mayors: the Distinguished Public Service Award.

In commenting on the appointment, Ashe said, "I am deeply honored to have been nominated by the President for this position and I look forward to meeting with Senators during the confirmation process."

Ashe had established a sister city relationship with Chelm in Poland while he was mayor of Knoxville and visited Poland twice as mayor.

"Victor Ashe provided strong, bi-partisan leadership for our organization during a time of great change in Washington. He has been a vocal advocate for cities across our nation and throughout the world, and will be a fantastic representative of our nation," said Conference Executive Director Tom Cochran.

Ashe has said that if confirmed, his wife Joan and two children will go with him to Poland. The embassy in Poland is located in Warsaw and has over 530 employees.