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COVER STORYOct. 20, 2006Best of Mayoral TravelThe King of the Cultural Exchange…The Titan of the Trade Mission…The God of Globalism: Ambassador Anthony A. WilliamsBy James Jones and Erik Wemple
(Illustrations by Kyle T. Webster)
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In July 2004, Mayor Anthony A. Williams traveled to Houston for Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game. Amid the festivities, Williams met with Commissioner Bud Selig as part of a campaign to bring baseball to the District. Two years later, after the city had scored a franchise, Williams traveled to San Diego and again met with baseball officials, this time to press them to name an owner for the Nationals. Lobbying trips like those, hopes Williams, will cement his legacy as the mayor who brought baseball to Washington, along with all kinds of spinoff benefits. Yet as the mayor’s eight years in office wind down, it’s not the baseball for which he’ll be remembered. It’s the trips. Williams’ fondness for the road broke all records for mayoral travel. He often sneaked away quietly, a strategy that delayed scrutiny of his trekking for several years. In the early going, carping about the chief exec’s fondness for out-of-town jaunts was considered the pet bitch of WRC-TV reporter Tom Sherwood. The mayor never paid much attention to Sherwood’s travel stories, and he ignored the veteran journalist’s advice. “I told the mayor, ‘It is not that you can’t defend every trip,’ ” says Sherwood. “But when the Washington Post finally does ‘The mayor has been gone a certain number of days this year’ story, you will be known as the traveling mayor.” No one can argue with that label now. As the frequent-flier miles piled up, no John A. Wilson Building quip about the latest government crisis was complete without a mocking dialogue on Williams’ whereabouts: What’s the mayor’s take on this? Oh, that’s right. He’s in China, or Germany, or someplace. The rap often hit the mark. During 2003 and 2004, Williams spent one of every four days outside of the District—and that was before he became president of the National League of Cities (NLC). Not exactly a sterling attendance record for a guy elected to provide the hands-on management needed to turn around a dysfunctional jurisdiction. The mayor had plenty of enablers around to fuel his wanderlust. His involvement with the NLC—he served as president for one year—gave him a no-strings-attached travel budget and ready retort for those wondering why he was in Des Moines, San Francisco, or Boston. After his NLC reign, local travel and tourism officials always seemed able to convince city business leaders that funding a mayoral trip would bring benefits to the city. And who could argue with the mayor’s rationale? The District was in serious need of an image upgrade. After all, Williams was elected to lead a city scarred by an international reputation as the U.S. murder capital, not to mention the whole Vista Hotel thing. But let’s face it, our globe-trotting mayor stays on the move mainly because he likes it. This week, he returned from South Africa, the last (scheduled) international trip of his mayoralty. What better moment to take a look at Mayor Anthony A. Williams, frequent flier? CP |
Copyright © 2006 Washington Free Weekly Inc.