Mayor in DC for Special Conference
Corporate interests seek to influence mayors, Special coverage of police reform and Zionist influences, and Salinas meets with Swalwell without mentioning Gaza.
Mark Salinas at US Conference of Mayors
Mayor Mark Salinas is in D.C. this week to attend the United States Conference of Mayors. This is the “official non-partisan organization of cities with a population of 30,000 or larger,” according to their website. Formed after the Great Depression, the Conference allows mayors to advocate for their cities with Congress and the White House, network with other mayors, promote their cities, and learn best practices.
This could be seen as a professional development trip. But since he’s likely used our tax dollars to go there, let’s dig into this Conference a bit more.
Corporate Partners
This Conference appears to have a boatload of large corporate partners, especially in the Mayor’s Business Council. The 150+ partners represent a variety of for profit businesses and non-profit business advocates that would love nothing more than to scoop up some of those sweet taxpayer dollars. Some notable examples include:
Tech companies - Amazon, Airbnb, Meta, Grubhub, Google Fiber, Instacart, Lyft, Microsoft, Uber
Big Box Stores - Walmart, Target, Dollar General, Walgreens
Telecom Companies - T-Mobile, AT&T, Qualcomm, Comcast, Charter Communications, Verizon
Big Food/Beverage Corporations - McDonald’s, Mars, PepsiCo, Hunt, Coca-Cola
Trade Organizations - American Beverage Association, American Chemical Association, American Gas Association, American Hotel and Lodging Association, National Apartment Association, National Confectioner’s Association, Internet and Television Association
Banks and Finance Companies - Wells Fargo, SoftBank, Municipal Finance Services Corp, Morgan Stanley, Mobility Capital Finance, Kapor Capital, JP Morgan Chase, Fengate Asset Management, Bank of America
Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Companies - Pfizer, Kaiser, Elevance Health, Aetna
Sports Associations - NFL and MLB
Police Equipment Companies - Truleo, Cellbrite, Axon, Evolv Technologies, Flock Safety
And so many many more.
Much like the Cal Cities Conference we covered in September, these corporations are paying big bucks to get access to hundreds of mayors from across the country. The big box stores want to make sure that our cities keep sprawling to the benefit of their bottom lines and the detriment of local finances. The food and beverage corporations want to make sure there aren’t any more fast food or soda taxes, like in New York City. The NFL and MLB want to make sure that your tax dollars keep paying for the stadiums that they profit from.
These interests get to decide what the best practices are and influence local governments in a way that would be impossible if their mayors didn’t all show up in one convenient location.
Special Topics
There are also special awards, initiatives, and grants that the Conference gives out to different participating cities. One is the Police Reform and Equitable Justice Grant Program sponsored, bizarrely, by Target. Winning cities can get up to $175,000, depending on the size of the city. But there’s a special note that they won’t fund any “new, untried, programs” which seems a little wild.
Aside from the grants, there are also special “issues” that mostly cover the kinds of things you’d expect a City to want to know more about: gun violence, homelessness, transportation and infrastructure, and mental health. Capitalist excess has forced all of us to reckon with these issues at a local level as the national government has no appetite to do anything systemic.
But one issue stood out: Combating Antisemitism. If this was during the Trump administration, it would seem benign. Tiki torch wielding fascists shouting “Jews will not replace us” was a stark reminder of the white nationalist presence in the United States. But with the current Palestinian genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli government, it warrants a closer look.
The Mayor’s Guide linked on the issue page is benign enough. But the organization who put it together, the American Jewish Committee, has an interesting set of priorities. They’re a global nonprofit organization that “stands up for the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and the democratic values that unite us all.” They’re also the self-proclaimed “global advocacy organization for the Jewish people.” I have a feeling they don’t stand for as many Jewish people as they think.
Their section on BDS also shows their intentions. “AJC battles the insidious BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement on multiple fronts,” reads their website. “AJC exposes the sinister reality of the BDS movement.” A similar BDS movement helped to topple Apartheid South Africa, which is why it’s been applied to Israel.
We’ve already covered why Israel is an apartheid state, and even gone into the history of Israeli settlement, facilitated by the British government, that led us to where we are now. And this Zionist organization is getting prime access to local mayors, like our own, which is doubtless holding up calls for a ceasefire.
Access to Congress
The other big reason to be there is for mayors, like Mayor Salinas, to get access to federal Representatives and Senators. Thankfully, Mayor Salinas has been kind enough to give everyone a peek into his meetings with all our federal legislators: Laphonza Butler, Alex Padilla, and Aggressive Listener Eric Swalwell.
Representative Swalwell even went so far as to film an Instagram reel with Mayor Salinas in his DC office.
I’m not sure how Swalwell so narrowly missed the tagline of the largest city in his district—we’re the Heart of the Bay, sir, not the Heartbeat of the Bay. But perhaps he spends too much time in Dublin, Pleasanton, and Castro Valley to know better.
When asked what brings him to the Mayor’s conference, Mayor Salinas said that he wanted funding and resources for youth mental health programs, homelessness, and the HEART program from federal legislators. He also mentioned funding a new building for the Weeke’s branch of Hayward Public Library.
“Any ask of me—what can I do?” Swalwell asked.
“1, make sure Hayward is still front and center in all of your discussions here at the capitol,” Mayor Salinas said. “And 2, I would be remiss if I did not ask you to make sure that we have funds coming to the city—coming to the district—so that we can keep these incredible programs open.”
Mayor Salinas did not mention the ongoing genocide in Gaza or Representative Swalwell’s continued refusal to call for an Israeli ceasefire. Mayor Salinas has so far not publicly called for a ceasefire in any fashion, in direct contradiction to his Martin Luther King Jr. quotations.
Mayor Salinas and Councilmember Bonilla Jr. are the only members of City Council who have not yet called for a ceasefire, despite almost 30,000 Palestinian people being dead or missing—9,600 of whom are children—since the bombing began. Hayward has not drafted a ceasefire resolution, despite over 100 community members calling for one in December, and five members of City Council publicly calling for it in other venues.