Mesa Mayor John Giles In Washington Last Week

Mesa Mayor John Giles has re-invented himself as 'a street-level politician'

Mayors to Trump: We can be great partners

Monitor Breakfast    Search for solutions

By David Cook Staff writer Christian Science Monitor

Members of the non-partisan US Conference of Mayors, which represents 1,408 cities with a population of 30,000 or more, say they seek solutions based on results – not ideology.

[Complete audio available on C-SPAN]

August 2, 2017 Washington—A delegation of America’s mayors is visiting Washington this week, meeting with senators and arguing that a bipartisan, problem-solving approach is the only way forward on health care, tax reform, and infrastructure.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, president of the non-partisan US Conference of Mayors, said his group searches for policy answers based on results, not ideology. “We want to model good behavior for how you get solutions for people on the ground,” Mr. Landrieu said at a Monitor-hosted breakfast with reporters. The Conference represents the 1,408 US cities with a population of 30,000 or more.
“We are not here to resist. We are here to construct. We are builders. We are not destroyers and [the president] will find great partners in the mayors of America if we are engaged in a constructive and thoughtful way,” Landrieu said.

Thoughts on policing, abortion

At the breakfast, John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, Ariz., was asked about President Trump’s Aug. 28 remarks telling police, “Please don’t be too nice” when loading suspects into vehicles. The president added, “You can take the hand away, okay?”

Mayor Giles responded, “As a mayor, I don’t think there is anything he could have said that would have been more disturbing.  He may have said a lot of things I disagree with over the course of his tenure but that has got to be close to the top.”  

The White House later said the president was joking.

Earlier this week Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D) of New Mexico, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said the organization would not withhold funds from congressional candidates who oppose abortion rights. It is a move that angered some abortion-rights supporters.
Landrieu was asked whether support for abortion rights should be a litmus test for Democratic candidates. “It is a bad mistake. On issues like that, both parties should be big-tent parties,” he said.
A score of other subjects and questions asked: NAFTA, CDBG, sanctuary cities, and more  
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