By Larry Jones
June 23, 2003

During their June 8 meeting in Denver, members of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors voted unanimously to elect Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer as president to replace Denver Mayor Wellington E. Webb, who is stepping down because his term as mayor will end in July. Upon assuming his new duties, Mayor Palmer thanked all mayors for their support and praised Mayor Webb for the outstanding leadership he provided in building and moving the organization forward, and for his support for Democratic mayors across the nation.

Palmer, a U.S. Conference of Mayors Trustee and Co-Chair of the Urban Water Council, had served as treasurer of the NCDM since January of 2002. San Bernardino Mayor Judith Valles was appointed by Palmer to serve as the new treasurer. Other officers of NCDM remained unchanged: Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell, vice president for communications; Seattle Mayor Greg Nickles, vice president for policy; Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, vice president for finance; and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, secretary.

Conference Vice President James A. Garner stopped by the meeting to commend Mayor Webb not only for supporting him but for his many years of service and leadership to the Conference, including serving as its president 1999 - 2000. Representatives from the Bush Administration also stopped by and informed mayors how to contact them when their cities needed help from the Administration. These included Toby Burke from the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Greg Harris form the Department of Justice and David Hagey from the Office of Homeland Security.