On Tuesday I had the opportunity to visit The White House to participate in the Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia Regional White House Conference. This was a working conference where invited local and county leaders had the opportunity to interface with senior administration officials as well as about two dozen officials from the White House Office of Intergovermental Affairs. The itinerary included a Q&A with Secretary Ben Carson and Special advisor to the President Kellyanne Conway.
Pictured here: Ja’Ron Smith Deputy Assistant to the President & Deputy Director, White House Office of American Innovation Scott Stump – Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, & Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education Rebeckah Adcock – Senior Advisor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture Meghan Stringer – Policy Advisor, U.S. Department of Labor
The event was very much non-partisan. Something folks don’t realize in our politically polarized world, is that in terms of drafting policy as opposed to driving political narratives, no matter who sits in the oval for the most part policy folks work together. This was the case yesterday and it was refreshing.
No doubt, some national political issues like the 2nd amendment or abortion will continue to have deep division. Politicians (particularly of the career kind) will continue to exploit them. Yesterday’s conference however was about the issues where the rubber hits the road and our pocketbooks. In the case of infrastructure, literally so. Other examples included the opioid crisis, rural broadband access, international trade agreements and community development with an emphasis on affordable housing and other topics of great concern for local leaders.
I had the chance to have one-on-one conversations with administration officials regarding issues of local importance to Lower Macungie Township. For example, federal grants opportunities for underground infrastructure and how the Lehigh Valley is an example of how transportation dollars should be focused on infrastructure repair as opposed to expansion. I also learned about federal initiatives that the township can potentially take part in. An example is National Drug Take Back Day. Lehigh County already promotes this but I think we can do so locally as well. Important given our population of Seniors.
Berks County Commissioner Christian Leinbach asks one of the panels a question.
The Trump administration deserves alot of credit for holding this program. It was a new initiative for them. Since it began, the administration has made it a priority to invite County Commissioners and local officials from across the Country to the White House on a yearly basis. This is something the Wolf administration should consider emulating at the state level. Local government is on the front lines, closest to real world problems. As a local official, being heard in a meaningful way by the highest levels of federal government is both a unique and welcome opportunity.
As part of the program, we also recieved a point of contact for every federal department reporting directly to the President of the United States. This information of course is public. But having the door opened in a way that encourages you to use these contacts and put names to faces allowing us to develop relationships was invaluable.
Note: Eventhough we have township line item for Commissioners to attend conferences, I chose not to ask for reimbursement for this trip. So, ZERO taxpayers dollars were used. The conference itself was free and I traveled to Washington DC on my own dime.