UPDATED: Dixon snubbed, unsnubbed and resnubbed
Many of the nation's mayors are going to the White House tomorrow, to talk to Barack Obama and Joe Biden about urban policy.
When the U.S. Conference of Mayors sent of the list of who would be attending, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon's name wasn't on it.
That left us wondering if this was another snub.
It was just this week that Dixon, indicted earlier this year on a dozen fraud and misuse of office charges, acknowledged that she was "bothered" that Obama didn't mention her by name when he swung through Baltimore on the weekend before his inauguration. She called it "a lonely part" of the day, in a televised interview that appeared on WJZ.
Dixon has been in Florida this week for a conference on homelessness. When her aides starting fielding questions from the Baltimore Sun's Annie Linskey and others about why Dixon was not going to the White House, apparently the schedulers started scrambling.
The mayor's office told Linskey this afternoon that Dixon indeed will be going to the White House tomorrow. So perhaps she has unsnubbed herself?
UPDATE: After we posted this item, the mayor was uninvited. We're doing some more reporting now. Full story in tomorrow's print edition of Baltimore Sun, and online at www.baltimoresun.com.
Click on the link below to see the original list of mayors scheduled to be in Washington.
U.S. MAYORS TO MEET WITH PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
AT THE WHITE HOUSE ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2009
Washington, D.C. – The nation’s mayors have been invited by U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden to the White House for a meeting with The Conference of Mayors leadership on the morning of Friday, February 20, 2009. Led by U.S. Conference of Mayors President Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, over 60 mayors will also meet with Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and White House Senior Staff.
The mayors meeting with President Obama and Vice President Biden will take place from 10:30 a.m. to
11:15 a.m. in the East Room of the White House and will be OPEN to the press. The mayors will also hold a press availability at the White House at 11:30 a.m. immediately following the meeting (location is TBD).
Following the White House meeting, the mayors will gather at the Capitol Hilton in Washington, D.C. for a session with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, U.S. Department of Energy Weatherization Program Director Gil Sperling, and U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office Acting Director Tim Quinn. This meeting is CLOSED to the press.
The nation’s mayors commend President Obama and Congress for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is in line with the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ priorities, and look forward to working with the Administration to implement this landmark legislation toward transforming our national economy for the 21st Century.
WHO (as of 2/19/09):
USCM PRESIDENT MANNY DIAZ, Miami FL
USCM VICE PRESIDENT GREG NICKELS, Seattle WA
USCM SECOND VICE PRESIDENT, ELIZABETH KAUTZ, Burnsville MN
DOUG PALMER, Trenton NJ
DONALD PLUSQUELLIC, Akron OH
THOMAS MENINO, Boston MA
RICHARD DALEY, Chicago IL
JERRY E. ABRAMSON, Louisville KY
JOE RILEY, Charleston SC
JAMES BAKER, Wilmington DE
THOMAS MARK BARRETT, Milwaukee WI
RALPH BECKER, Salt Lake City UT
TERRY Michelle BELLAMY, Asheville NC
JUAN CARLOS BERMUDEZ, Doral FL
MARTY BLUM, Santa Barbara CA
CHRISTIAN BOLLWAGE, Elizabeth NJ
ROBERT L. BOWSER, East Orange NJ
JAMES BRAINARD, Carmel IN
KEVIN BURNS, North Miami FL
MARTIN J. CHAVEZ, Albuquerque NM
DAVID N. CICILLINE, Providence RI
MATTHEW W. CLAMAN, Anchorage AK
MICHAEL COLEMAN, Columbus OH
JOY COOPER, Hallandale Beach FL
FRANK COWNIE, Des Moines IA
RONALD DELLUMS, Oakland CA
ROBERT DUFFY, Rochester NY
JILL C DUSON, Portland ME
WILLIAM EUILLE, Alexandria VA
MICHAEL FAHEY, Omaha NE
SHIRLEY FRANKLIN, Atlanta GA
LOIS FRANKEL, West Palm Beach
WILLIAM E. GLUBA, Davenport IA
PHIL GORDON, Phoenix AZ
MUFI HANNEMANN, Honolulu HI
PATRICK HENRY HAYS, North Little Rock AR
DARWIN HINDMAN, Columbia MO
JAMES HOLLEY, Portsmouth VA
HEATHER HUDSON, Greenville MS
FRANK JACKSON, Cleveland OH
BRENDA LAWRENCE, Southfield MI
THOMAS LEPPERT, Dallas TX
MARK MALLORY, Cincinnati OH
DANNEL MALLOY, Stamford CT
PATRICK McCRORY, Charlotte NC
RHINE MCLIN, Dayton OH
ARLENE MULDER, Arlington Heights IL
RAY NAGIN, New Orleans LA
GAVIN NEWSOM, San Francisco CA
DAVID POPE, Oak Park IL
MIGUEL PULIDO, Santa Ana CA
LUKE RAVENSTAHL, Pittsburgh PA
RAUL SALINAS, Laredo TX
JAMES SCHMITT, Green Bay WI
DAVID SMITH, Newark CA
JOHN ROBERT SMITH, Meridian MS
MARK STODOLA, Little Rock AR
KATHY TAYLOR, Tulsa OK
CHARLES TOMLINSON, Corvallis OR
ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, Los Angeles CA
BRIAN WAHLER, Piscataway NJ
ELAINE WALKER, Bowling Green KY
JONATHAN WEINZAPFEL, Evansville IN
BILL WHITE, Houston TX
ASHLEY SWEARENGIN, Fresno CA
USCM CEO & Executive Director Tom Cochran
Comments
How effective can a big-city mayor be when she can't even get an invite to the White House where the mayors of much smaller cities will be present? This is one of many examples of Dixon's ineffectiveness. The best thing for Baltimore would be for her to just resign. If she stays then it is obviously for her own benefit.
Posted by: Curious | February 19, 2009 7:53 PM
As well she should be. No one wants to hang around with (alleged) criminals.
Obama had it right on his Whistle Stop visit to Baltimore.
If it walks like a duck (wearing expensive fur) and quacks like a duck (wearing expensive fur) it is a duck...
Posted by: TAJ | February 19, 2009 8:27 PM
It looks like Obama doesn't believe in innocent until proven guilty. I didn't see the DC mayor on there either.
Posted by: Susan | February 20, 2009 7:43 AM
Why is she surprised? Does she not realize that no one wants to be associated with her and her questionable/corrupt politics? She's been indicted. She's a reflection of Baltimore as a whole. Intelligent people do not want to be associted with that.
Posted by: Former Baltimore Resident | February 20, 2009 7:49 AM
This is just pathetic. I would venture to say the snub is the result of Dixon expressing her feelings over the last Obama snub to WJZ in her recent interview. A rookie move by a rookie league Mayor. The sad thing is that the City desperately needs money from the Feds going forward which is now threatened by Dixon's lack of discipline in a simple interview with a softball throwing local reporter. What could possibly be the point of what she said about Obama in this interview? To vent? That's what friends are for. The Mayor's ability to govern effectively has been compromised not only by her criminal indictment, but by her complete misunderstanding of the basics of dealing with the press. It was time to step aside a while ago.
Posted by: Avenue Pop | February 20, 2009 8:31 AM
After 20 years in a church with a racist separatist preacher, a 20 year friendship with a domestic terrorist, a long friendship with radical Muslims it seems very odd to dis a black mayor who has only been charged with theft and misconduct.
Posted by: AnotherWatcher | February 20, 2009 8:37 AM
Is Another Watcher really Sarah Palin?
Posted by: Lesmon | February 20, 2009 10:12 AM
No one is asking President Obama to condone Mayor Dixon's alleged criminal activities, but doesn't a major city like Baltimore deserve representation. Baltimore supported the President in the primary and general elections, as well as his whistle-stop visit. I was one of those who braved the cold to see him (well, really the shoulders and back of anyone over 5'5"). Baltimore's citizens should not be so casually dismissed.
Posted by: overdone | February 20, 2009 10:38 AM
I blame all of this on Governor Martin O'Malley.
He, of all the people close to sweet little Sheila Dixon, should have stopped this train before it wreaked.
No, he was on to bigger and better trains...Wreaking the State of Maryland.
So many lies, so little time to remember them all, but here are a few;
1. Lower BGE bills
2. Slot referendum, vote for slots you dumb teachers and all will be A-OK in la la land.
3. Dixon will make a wonderful mayor. She has my support.
4. Killing is wrong, yet hands out money for abortions and spends more tax payer's dollars on another research group.
5. We need a special session tax hike. Folks won't mind paying their fair share, yet he never defines fair share.
6. Saving the Chesapeake Bay. (biggest joke and taxpayer's waste of money ever)
7. Affordable heath care for all.
This governor and mayor can't see beyond their self absorbed egos.
Posted by: Carole | February 20, 2009 10:50 AM
Thank goodness that it's President Obama that has snubbed Mayor Dixon. Just think if it was President W........OH MY!!!! Media and "others" would have a reporters dream story and the national talking heads.............Double OH MYs!!
Posted by: TG Manatee | February 20, 2009 11:03 AM
Certainly the host and probably the overwhelming majority of the invitee list are members of her own party. The indictment is a huge distraction . Her being dissed by her own party does not bode well for her ability to continue to govern effectively.
Posted by: Nick in Pa | February 20, 2009 11:22 AM
Lesmon, why do you ask? Where am I wrong?
Posted by: AnotherWatcher | February 20, 2009 11:31 AM
Is Dixon dense or what? Why dosn't she get the message that public officials under investigation for alleged criminal acts aren't getting within a very long arms reach of this allegedly squeaky clean president.
Posted by: steve g | February 20, 2009 11:35 AM
After googling "mayors under indictment " one finds none of them on the list of invitees.
Posted by: Paul L Williams | February 20, 2009 12:08 PM
why do black people like to elect black criminals? Black on black crime has been a cancer far worse than racism, as electing criminals is preventable.
Posted by: voiceinwilderness | February 23, 2009 3:18 PM