|
The Challenge and Perception of Political Balance
by Donald J. Borut
One of the fundamental characteristics and strengths of local government and local elected officials is their non-partisan approach to decision making and governance.
While most elected officials identify themselves as either Republicans or Democrats, the vast majority do not run on partisan tickets. Usually, the political identification of a local official does not define how they approach the pragmatic issues they confront day-to-day in their cities and towns, nor do we typically see the partisan divisions and animus that exist in Washington, D.C., at the local level.
That city issues transcend party politics also carries over when these same local elected officials come together to develop and advocate national policy positions as members of NLC. We are in fact quite proud that the NLC membership has never divided on a federal issue along party lines.
I have repeatedly argued that political leaders in Washington, D.C., could learn from and model their approach to decision making on the governance approach at the local government level.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t have diversity of opinion at NLC. But our diversity comes from the fact that our membership reflects a broad cross section of America … from big city to small town, from northeast to southwest, from varying ethnicities and cultures, and, yes, from different political philosophies. All of these lead to a healthy debate on issues and, in the end, a policy position that reflects what our members deem best for cities across the country.
Several years ago, NLC did a survey asking local elected officials which political party they were more likely to identify with. Forty-two percent answered Republican, 37 percent answered Democrat and 21 percent said neither or other.
Last November at our Congress of Cities, we took a poll and found that, of those participating, 26 percent said they were somewhat conservative, 25 percent said they were somewhat liberal, and 31 percent described themselves as being in the middle of the political spectrum.
While we at NLC work successfully at keeping partisanship out of our proceedings, our members and our leaders fully understand and appreciate the political world in which we all live and operate. When our members gather at our annual conferences, such as the Congressional City Conference held in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, they expect NLC to put together a program of speakers that reflects the diversity of the political spectrum — and in Washington, D.C., that translates to Republicans and Democrats.
Each year, we extend invitations to a mix of Congressional leaders and Cabinet officials who can speak to our legislative priorities. Like a number of our members who have communicated directly with me, I too was concerned and disappointed that this year we did not have more Republicans accept our invitation. Several years ago, we had similar concerns about a lineup of speakers that was overwhelmingly Republican.
This year, as it was becoming clear that we would not have balanced representation at the conference general sessions from Republicans, we redoubled our efforts including personal outreach to GOP leaders on the Hill who are strong advocates for issues of critical concern to local officials. Regrettably, they were unable to join us. With the support and assistance of the intergovernmental staff at the White House, Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez accepted our invitation, while Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and Attorney General Michael Mukasey were not available at the time of our conference.
During election years, we invite all of the Presidential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, and this year, along with the Democratic challengers, we aggressively pursued Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) the presumptive Republican nominee. Initially the senator's staff sent regrets, so at our request a former mayor who is close to the senator asked him to reconsider. The senator's campaign staff immediately called back and said he would like to speak but was unavailable for all the days we had general sessions and expressed their regrets.
And, every year, we invite the President to speak to our members at the Congressional City Conference. It has been a profound disappointment to me that President George W. Bush is the first President in decades who has not appeared before our membership at any point in his two terms in office. We have made many overtures to the President directly and through members with close ties to him to encourage him to speak to NLC, as First Lady Laura Bush did in March of 2006, but once again this year he declined.
Political balance is a critical and fundamental priority in the planning of our conferences. But, as the political tides in Washington, D.C., change, so do the programs at our conferences.
As we go forward, NLC will continue to reach across the partisan divide to both political parties, whether they choose to accept our invitations to speak or not. Because we know that the strength of our message is not about Republicans and Democrats, but about cities and towns and the good work local officials are doing to improve their communities.
|