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Auburn Mayor Joins Nation’s Mayors on Two Key Initiatives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 3, 2011

Contact:

Dana Hinman, Public Affairs Manager
City of Auburn
253-931-4009
dhinman@auburnwa.gov

AUBURN, Wash. – February 3, 2011 – Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis has joined other mayors across the United States with his support of two key initiatives brought forth at his attendance at the annual winter meeting in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Conference of Mayors last month.

On Jan. 19, Mayor Lewis signed the USCM Civility Accord in response recent shootings in Tucson, Ariz. That injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 14 others and killed six, including a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge.

The accord pledges a commitment to certain principles of civility:

Respect the right of all Americans to hold different opinions;
Avoid rhetoric intended to humiliate, de-legitimatize, or question the patriotism of those whose opinions are different from ours;
Strive to understand differing perspectives;
Choose words carefully;
Speak truthfully without accusation, and avoid distortion;
Speak out against violence, prejudice, and incivility in all of their forms, whenever and wherever they occur.

“It is time for the mayors of America to provide that example,” says Lewis. “America was founded in debate, chartered to provide for separation of powers calls out to us as mayors to bring our political leadership back together. It is correct to have different beliefs, to debate even hotly, but with civility and honorably.”

Full text of accord can be found here: USCM Civility Accord.

The other, is a letter from the mayors to House and Senate transportation and finance leaders that urges Congress' support for innovative transportation financing mechanisms to help construct local transportation projects. The letter reflects the policy USCM adopted last June.

About the U.S. Conference of Mayors
The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,209 such cities in the country today. Each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor.

The primary roles of The U.S. Conference of Mayors are to: