Read More... Coverage from the Idaho Statesman

One of the highlights of the Conference's 2000 Fall Leadership Meeting in Boise was the Mayors Forum on White House Transition. About fifty Mayors, with the help of two former White House officials and two national media pundits, brainstormed about ways to bring the issues of America's cities to the forefront of the 2000 Presidential Election Campaign and transition. The panel was moderated by Jim Williams, ABC News correspondent (and former press secretary for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley).

"As we approach the critical 2000 presidential elections, Mayors must be highly involved in the presidential transition process regardless of who wins," said Conference President and Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles. "Washington must support policies that will help continue to fuel the metro economies so that the economic boom can continue and more people can benefit from these strong times."

One of the undercurrents of the Forum was the resurgence of America's metropolitan economies, and the resulting cultural and quality of life changes that have re-established America's cities not only as viable communities in which to work and live, but as the constantly pumping engines of America's unprecedented prosperity.

"We're not idle elected officials running hokey-pokey towns," said Conference Vice President and New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial. "Ninety percent of new jobs in the 1990s were created in the cities, and many cities have larger economies than the whole economies of some states," Morial said. "The president who understands that is going to succeed."

During the two-hour panel discussion, the Mayors discussed the need to "drill down" on the broad agenda they have adopted, to narrow the scope of the agenda from 10 to about five key points. They also discussed the possibility of sponsoring a domestic policy summit after the election.

Morton Kondracke, Executive Editor of Roll Call (the respected twice-weekly newspaper covering Capitol Hill) and a political commentator on the Fox News Network, suggested that the Mayors agenda should be individually tailored for each of the campaigns. As written, the agenda is more in line with Vice President Gore's strategy of crafting specific programs to address urban issues, according to Kondracke. Kondracke suggested that the Mayors consider re-crafting their message "to fit the Bush campaign's construct," which he defined as "broader visions of empowerment, cutting taxes and converting poor people into entrepreneurs."

Several Mayors during the discussion suggested that holding a summit, focused on one or more of the Conference's top priorities and held after the election, could catapult these issues into the spotlight. Austin, Bush's home, and Nashville, Gore campaign headquarters, were suggested as possible sites for a summit. "Maybe we should plan on going in the back yard of whoever wins on November 7th," said Conference and North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Henry Hays.

Fred DuVal, a former senior intergovernmental relations official in the Clinton administration, reinforced this idea by noting that Clinton's economic summit shortly after his 1992 election played a major role in defining the administration's overall economic policy.

Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute and a CBS News political analyst, offered another perspective on how Mayors could impact the transition: transform the transition process itself. Presidential appointments must be made and confirmed more quickly and background searches shouldn't be traumatizing for job applicants, according to Ornstein. A nightmare for cities, Ornstein said, would be to have key Cabinet positions, such as the secretaries of transportation and of housing and urban development, be vacant for several months. "Changes won't happen for cities in those areas if they don't happen in the first year," he said.

Bill Canary, former intergovernmental liaison under President Bush, said it took four months before he got FBI clearance for his White House appointment, as the FBI interviewed 73 people. Kondracke said Mayors should encourage changes in the transition process. "It's way too big." he said. "It's organized chaos."

The Forum was a centerpiece to the three-day Fall Leadership Meeting, where one of the Mayors' primary objectives is to craft a strategy to make the presidential candidates aware of the cities' agenda. But the Mayors have look beyond the campaign. They are also looking to secure a voice and a role during the critical three-month transition period between Election Day and Inauguration Day, when thousands of appointments to key policy positions are made, and finally during the new President's first year in office as he defines his priorities.

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