After acknowledging that he was in Maine for the birthdays of his parents, former President George H.W. and Barbara Bush, Texas Governor and Presidential Candidate George W. Bush told via satellite the mayors gathered in Seattle for the 68th Annual Conference of The U.S. Conference of Mayors that they would have access, to his transition teams and later the Oval Office, if he is elected. While not promising that any mayor would be given a Cabinet position, he seemed open to the possibility.

While his positions on many issues were consistent with those of the Conference, with respect to e-commerce and taxation of Internet sales he sided with those who would wait, saying specifically "we need to take our time to fully understand the direction of e-commerce" and that he supported the three to five year moratorium. Among his top priorities Bush told the Mayors, were education, home ownership, public safety, urban sprawl and cleanup, and local and private conservation.

As he began his formal remarks, Governor Bush quoted former President Lyndon Johnson who "found comfort in saying when things got difficult, at least I’m not a mayor."

Sees Mayors as Problem Solvers

He went on to say "some of the boldest reforms are coming from mayors…. I’m aware of the fact that you are solving problems that many once thought were hopeless." He recognized the fact that Mayors Richard M. Daley and John O. Norquist are leading the way in education reforms in Chicago and Milwaukee. Mayors Marc H. Morial and Rudoplh Guiliani have brought down crime rates in New Orleans and New York. And, entrepreneurial mayors in Indianapolis and Philadelphia have greatly improved the quality of city services (a reference to former Mayors Goldsmith and Rendell). "In a national movement crossing old lines of region and party", he continued, you are solving problems once thought hopeless. Mayors are also at the helm of ’metro economies’ that are driving our nation’s economic growth."

As governor, "I have worked with mayors in my state and as candidate I have appointed former Mayor Steve Goldsmith as a top domestic advisor, and as president I will rely upon mayors across America for good ideas and insight."

Education

As president "I pledge to work with you to improve the quality of life in our cities and this begins with education," he stated.

"Education is a local responsibility and the details and policy should be left to local officials who answer directly to parents…. The theory is simple," he said, "those who know your name will more likely know your needs."

"Washington must be humble enough to stay out of the day-to-day operations of local schools and wise enough to give states and school districts more authority and freedom and it must be strong enough to require proven performance in return," he said.

Among the details of a Bush education program that would "close the achievement gap in schools, increase local control and make schools safer" were:

• Require schools to measure student performance; guarantee that students in schools that are failing for three years can transfer to another public school, or use federal funds to pay for another option.

• Establish a $500 million fund to reward states and schools that improve student performance.

• Establish the "Reading First" program to invest $5 billion over five years to conquer illiteracy among disadvantaged children through early reading initiatives. Reform Head Start by making school readiness - pre-reading and numeracy - its top priority.

• Combine 60 federal programs into five grants to give sates and districts flexibility.

• Double the number of charter schools in two years by establishing a "Charter School Homestead Fund" to provide $3 billion of loan guarantees.

• Allow students in persistently dangerous schools to transfer to a safe school.

• Enact a Teacher Protection Act to shield teachers from meritless lawsuits arising out of their efforts to enforce discipline.

• Establish a teacher tax deduction to help defray out-of-pocket classroom expenses to allow all teachers to deduct up to $400, recouping a portion of their expenses.

• Increase character education funding; expand the role of faith-based/community organizations in after-school programs; and provide $2 billion in after school funding to low-income families.

Home Ownership

To Expand Homeownership and Build Personal Wealth, Governor Bush would:

• Reform HUD’s Section 8 rental voucher program to permit recipients to use up to a year’s worth of vouchers to finance the down payment on a home.

• Establish the "American Dream Down Payment Fund" to provide $1 billion of matching grants to lenders over five years to help as many as 650,000 low-income families, who are not enrolled in Section 8, to become homeowners.

• Provide $1.7 billion over the next five years in investor-based tax credits to encourage distressed communities.

• Support the creation of more than 1 million Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) by providing a tax credit to banks that match the savings of low-income earners, who can withdraw the matched funds tax free to finance a home, a business, or education

Public Safety

To Make our Streets and Communities Safer and to Reduce Drug Abuse, Governor Bush would:

• Support stronger enforcement of existing guns laws, and provide more funding for aggressive law enforcement programs such as Project Exile in Richmond, Virginia.

• Establish "Project Sentry" to prosecute kids who carry or use guns and the adults who provide them.

• Support automatic detention for kids who commit crimes with guns and a lifetime ban for serious juvenile offenders from ever purchasing or carrying a gun.

• Support requiring instant background checks at gun shows by allowing gun show promoters to access the instant check system on behalf of vendors.

• Support increasing the minimum age for possession of a handgun from 18 to 21.

• Sign legislation on mandatory trigger locks.

• Establish Project Childsafe, a federal-state-local partnership to provide safety locks for the 65 million handguns in America.

• Make performance-based drug treats grant available.

• Appoint a southwest border Coordinator to lead a joint federal-sate-local partnership to coordinate drug enforcement and prosecution efforts along the southwest border, direct U.S. Attorneys on the southwest border to prosecute large drug cases in federal court, and provide $50 million in federal funds annually to reimburse border counties for prosecuting federal drug referrals.

Urban Sprawl and Brownfields

To Address Urban Sprawl and Cleanup and Redevelop the Nation’s 450,000 Brownfields, Governor Bush would:

• Direct the EPA to establish high standards for brownfield cleanups that will provide more flexibility than the current Superfund standards.

• Provide redevelopers with protection from federal liability at brownfields cleaned up under state programs that meet high federal standards.

• Focus the efforts of the federal government on developing cleanup techniques and new cleanup technologies.

• Reform the Brownfield Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund by cutting red tape and block granting funds to the states.

• Extend permanently the Brownfield cleanup tax incentive that is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2001.

Local and Private Conservation

To encourage more local and Private Conservation, Governor Bush would:

• Fully fund the $900 million Land and Water Conservation Fund and provide 50 percent for state and local conservation efforts.

• Establish the Private Stewardship Grant Program to provide $10 million of the federal portion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund to individuals and groups engaged in local, private conservation.

• Support excluding from tax, 50 percent of any gain realized from private, voluntary sales of land or interest in land for conservation purposes.

• Eliminate the death tax to make it easier for private landowners to pass their land, intact, from one generation to the next.

A Call for Cooperation and Civility

In closing his remarks, Governor said, "if I am fortunate enough to become the president, I will bring a new spirit of cooperation to Washington, D.C….

I will do everything I can to restore civility to our nation’s politics. I will promote a respect for honest differences and a decent regard for one another." 

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