For Immediate Release: September 1, 2011
CONTACT: Reba Campbell
803.933.1245 (o) or rcampbell@masc.sc
Association of SC Mayors holds initial meeting
Secretary Richard W. Riley, Mayor Joe Riley, Camden Mayor Jeffrey Graham, Ambassador David Wilkins at the kick-off meeting of the Association of SC Mayors.
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More than 65 South Carolina mayors gathered in Columbia this week to kick off the newly formed
Association of South Carolina Mayors with a keynote address by former Governor and Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley and former Speaker of the House and Ambassador David Wilkins. The session was moderated by Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, the state’s longest serving mayor.
The Association of SC Mayors organized to give the state’s mayors a forum for advocating for city issues and learning from each other’s successes and challenges. At this first membership meeting, the mayors heard from Riley and Wilkins about navigating today’s changing political landscape.
With more than 75 years of political experience, stories and expertise between them, Wilkins and Riley discussed the value of relationships in the political arena and the importance of building regional coalitions to advocate for issues in these times of federal, state and local government fiscal challenges.
“This new organization will be a real benefit to our state’s cities and towns by giving mayors a chance to work closer together on issues of common interest and, at the same time, learn from each others’ challenges and successes,” said President of the Association of SC Mayors, Camden Mayor Jeffrey Graham. Mayors from cities as large as Columbia and as small as Jamestown participated in the meeting.
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