Washington, DC
December 5, 2003

New Mayors/New Challenges

Recent elections have given us a new team of mayors who will be joining us as we represent the individual and collective city cause to the nation and the world.

The most interesting and challenging opportunity for The U.S. Conference of Mayors is that we, as an organization, very much are what its mayor members want the organization to be. 9/11, the terrorist presence in our cities coupled with the economic security challenges, drastically changed the role of the USA mayor. These new mayors face the old challenges of their cities but they also face the newer challenges. And to be honest, the mayors who have been in office for a while are in a learning curve atmosphere as we change local law enforcement in the nation to confront the terrorist threat which includes an array of new challenges that span from international suicide bombs to biochemical warfare that could happen in our high density USA cities.

Last week new mayors joined us at the JFK Institute of Politics/U.S. Conference of Mayors sessions for new mayors at Harvard. Our topics covered the waterfront. We had mayors there talking about what to do in the event of a crisis, be it a fire explosion in a tunnel to an electrical blackout. We also brought an emphasis to the mayor's relationship with his or her business community. Mayors, serving as teachers to the new group, discussed ways to have business joined at the hip with them on economic development and also discussed ways to bring the entire community into owning the business development plan.

We also had a strong session on ethics. Recently, the old question of the FBI going after local officials surfaced in the Philadelphia mayor's race. We recall how black mayors were targeted in the 70s. Detroit Mayor Coleman Young and other mayors raised concern about this at that time. The session we had at Harvard was chilling. Experts told the new mayors that federal authorities love nothing more than to nail a local official. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who has represented famous mob leaders as a criminal lawyer before he gave up that successful career to be mayor, echoed the trend of federal authorities that set their priority on the alleged criminal activity in local governments. Mayor Goodman and other experts were there to state the importance of new mayors learning and understanding the complexities of the RICO statute as well as other federal, state, and local laws affecting the personal action and behavior of a mayor coming into office. It was not at all about how you beat the FBI at their own game. It was instead about the responsibility of each new mayor to know the law and not be a part of breaking the law.

Ethical statutes vary from city to city and from state to state. Also, mayors serve as the principal agent for their own city councils and thousands of other employees of fire, police and other departments. Mayors were cautioned to do everything possible to make sure that not one iota of evidence could be used against them.

Another issue discussed is the political nature of investigations. No matter who is being investigated, we have found that the mayor has to deal with it in the media and with his or her electorate. As with all daily events, the mayor is faced with TV reporters and microphones and TV cameras being thrust forward for comments. Unlike Governors, Members of Congress, Senators and USA Presidents, mayors confront the media in a daily fashion. Television is their medium and mayors, from large and small cities, daily in the morning, noontime, evening and late night news, are being confronted with all events in his or her city.

So the Harvard session on ethics was a good first step toward learning about the myriad of ethical laws that exist and we have decided to further educate our members on this serious subject in our regular scheduled national meetings as we go forward.

We ended our new mayors sessions with a dinner at the JFK Presidential Library. On this occasion, Dan Glickman, Director of the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and I celebrated the success of our new JFK School/U.S. Conference of Mayors Fellows program we launched during our June Annual Meeting in Denver. We thank Dan Glickman for his support in creating the program. Also, we thank Cathy McLaughlin, Deputy Director of the JFK School and Tom McClimon of our Conference staff for their valued assistance in making our new program work. The initiative was born out of the fact that in recent years, young people have not wanted to be involved in public service. They are going the business route and some are going for the money.

Recent polls after 9/11 indicate that young people wanted to serve the public in greater numbers. Many want to serve at the local level in city governments alongside mayors. We will continue with this initiative and share best practices of how mayors throughout America are encouraging young people in their own cities to appreciate and become involved with local government.

It was somber to be at the JFK Library almost 40 years to the day that President Kennedy was so painfully taken from us in Dallas. It is most interesting to reflect once more as we see new footage, new pictures, new issues all mixed with the old. They point us to the challenges of his day, his short 1,000 days. And those challenges he raised and pushed forward are still with us today: race relations, international peace through the atomic test ban treaty, tax relief, and poverty and economic security issues. The challenges he raised are still here. Sure, we-ve made some progress with some, but we still have a way to go with many. And as U.S.Mayor goes to press, there comes today another Kennedy theme — of us going to the moon — again. The last time it was Russia's sputnik that he used to push us to the moon. This time, it's China. The question is do we want China to go to the moon again before us. There's something about Americans. It's remarkable. We love the challenges; we love to do the impossible. Everything is possible if we believe in ourselves and our nation. President Kennedy had that special quality. It was a time after World War II when we as a young nation with a young President were not afraid of doing anything. Everything was possible. When he was killed, our hearts were broken and there is still pain but he left with all of us a spirit to believe in ourselves and to believe in our nation. And every now and then that belief comes forth and when there is this believing in ourselves and our nation, we think back on President Kennedy and we are thankful for his short life as our leader and at the same time we are thankful for the strong spirit of belief in ourselves and our nation he left us to use and experience during the days and years after he was amongst us.

On behalf of the staff and officers of the Conference of Mayors, we wish you and yours and your staff and all city employees a joyous and meaningful holiday.

We also want you with us next month in Washington at the Capital Hilton for our 72nd Winter Meeting. This is an election year. We want President Bush and whoever the Democrats give us to bring forth our issues of homeland security and economic security into the national debate. Mayors from both parties will convene to tell the nation what, in their opinion, must be discussed with action plans in the next campaigns. The issues of the Conference, homeland security and economic security, are bipartisan issues. To date, our issues have not come forth from any of the candidates in a comprehensive way. We need to help them fashion their proposals. Both parties need our help because we have within our portfolio the issues of the people as well as the business leaders. You, as a mayor, must be here. It is a critical time for USA cities and together we will make a difference as to how cities are given support as metro economic engines to keep the national economy strong and competitive with other nations. If our cities are not strong, the nation will not be strong. Our message is coming through with business leaders and we will bring business closer to us as we advocate smart investments from the federal government and private sector that will prove to be the answer to our national, regional and local economic challenges.

given support as metro economic engines to keep the national economy strong and competitive with other nations. If our cities are not strong, the nation will not be strong. Our message is coming through with business leaders and we will bring business closer to us as we advocate smart investments from the federal government and private sector that will prove to be the answer to our national, regional and local economic challenges.

Have a good New Years and then join with us next month. We need you with us as we go forward together in '04.