Obama and the mayors

February 20, 2009 7:31 AM

Many mayors are meeting with President Obama today. What is the criteria for being part of this select mayoral group? Population?
posted by josher71 to law & government (10 comments total)

It's a meeting with the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

All U.S. Mayors from cities with population 30,000 and above are eligible for full voting membership in the U.S. Conference of Mayors. [...] There are 1,050 cities in the U.S. with populations over 30,000.
posted by desjardins at 7:37 AM on February 20

I'm guessing not, or at least not "large populations"; Durham North Carolina's mayor is part of the meeting, and there will be 70 mayors there.

According to the Raleigh news and observer:

"Two other mayors from North Carolina, Terry Bellamy of Asheville and Pat McCrory of Charlotte, also scheduled to attend.

The meeting with Obama and Biden is expected to last about 45 minutes."

posted by amtho at 7:39 AM on February 20

This weekend is the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. It will be about 70 mayors, according to their press release on the website this morning (includes a full listing of which mayors and their cities). Looks like most of the big cities are on the list.

One mayor was snubbed - Mayor Sheila Dixon.
posted by quodlibet at 7:47 AM on February 20

It was organized by the US Conference of Mayors. A list of attendees is on their press release. It doesn't say how they were selected, though. Streaming live right now btw.
posted by salvia at 7:47 AM on February 20

Not to derail and focus on Baltimore, but if you read further in that article on Sheila Dixon, you can see that maybe she was snubbed due to her recent criminal indictment for things including "stealing gift cards intended for needy people, failing to report lavish gifts from developers on her ethics forms and misuse of office." I could see why she isn't exactly top on the list.
posted by fructose at 7:54 AM on February 20

Sorry, was running out the door when I posted - didn't mean to imply anything by saying Dixon was snubbed. Only mayor I know that was invited then uninvited..
posted by quodlibet at 8:28 AM on February 20

Surprised Bloomberg isn't there.
posted by josher71 at 8:31 AM on February 20

If interested in this stuff, I suggest checking out MayorTv - interviews of various Mayors, filmed during the Presidential campaign, about what should be done to help cities.

Includes snubbed Shelia Dixon.
posted by quodlibet at 8:42 AM on February 20

What is the criteria for being part of this select mayoral group?

Realistically, it's probably a variety of rationales, most of them intangible. Democrats are probably more likely to be chosen, particularly those who endorsed Obama in the primaries or raised money for him. But there are going to be some Republicans, too (although the GOP is generally less well-represented at this level).

For instance, high unemployment would be a reason, or being connected to "shovel-ready" stimulus projects. Mayors who have a national profile are more likely to be chosen. You can imagine that anyone with an outspoken history on the housing crisis might be a shoo-in.

Ultimately it's not usually a simple meritocratic process, but political.

Rahm or somebody probably started with a list of 25 must-be-theres, and then they had about 150 others that they pared down. It can't be too large because everyone is going to want a moment of face time.
posted by dhartung at 12:04 PM on February 20

No Detroit in the list, either.
posted by QIbHom at 12:57 PM on February 20