Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx Juggles 2012 DNC -- and Everything Else

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It's an exciting and heady time for Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, a leader in the city's successful campaign to win the 2012 Democratic National Convention. But he hardly has time to savor the moment.

"What's next?" is a question he'll be answering from now until then, while he reassures a city anxious about financial and other costs, and plans his own 2011 re-election bid. And, of course, Foxx has to continue to serve as mayor of the nation's 18^th largest city, one with charms but also challenges that an international spotlight will only magnify.

In Foxx's regular press briefing on Friday, he wore a "Charlotte in 2012" button while fielding questions on city water rates and taxi cab contracts at the airport – the juggling act in full view.

"As mayor of this city, I've still got to lead it," he told me later. "It's a matter of not getting seduced by the flashbulbs and staying true to the things I got into this office to do."

The most important part of being mayor "is making sure the city is moving in the right direction," Foxx said. Among his and the city council's priorities are strong plans for transit and public safety and improving neighborhoods, "whether we had the Democratic convention or not." And will those goals coincide with getting the city prepared for its 2012 close-up? "I would hope so," Foxx said with a smile.

Foxx used the term "due diligence" several times on Friday, saying he would appoint someone to help "make sure we've thought of all the things that have to be done to pull off a first-class event."

While last year, the NRA conference drew an estimated 70,000 to Charlotte, Foxx said the Democratic convention, with the president and several Cabinet members in attendance, was "different." There will be increased demands on infrastructure and security, he said. "That's the price you pay for playing in this league."

He said taxpayers wouldn't be paying, pointing to the bid package and contract between the DNC and the host committee. "We've done a good job of protecting the city from any (financial) shortages in the convention," Foxx said. Even with restrictions the party has placed on corporate fund-raising, Foxx said, "we will raise the money," estimated to be $40 million. "I have no doubts about that." He also said that "a lot of security dollars are going to come into our area." Denver, host city of the 2008 DNC, received other benefits, including a bike-share program, he said.

Foxx was happy to talk about his plans to harness the "energy" of the moment as the city prepares to host its first national political convention. (And he didn't mind imagining a possible pick-up basketball game, with Charlotte Bobcats majority owner Michael Jordan on his team going two-on-two against President Obama – whom Foxx has met with several times in the White House -- and Reggie Love.)

It was the kind of confidence that has marked Foxx's political career.

Foxx made a splash just by getting elected in 2009. He was the second African-American to win the office. The first, Harvey Gantt, who served from 1983 to 1987, introduced the new mayor at his victory rally. Foxx was the first Democrat elected to the top spot in 22 years and, at 38 then, he was also the youngest. He is a child of Charlotte, raised by his mother and her parents on the city's west side, where he learned astute political lessons from his grandfather James, a respected educator and activist. The two planted Gantt campaign signs in the front yard. Foxx was the first African-American elected student body president at Davidson College before earning a law degree at New York University.

His stump speech in 2009's mayoral campaign differed little from his Republican opponent's, with both favoring aid to small business, an expansion of the city's economic base and a commitment to public safety. What distinguished Foxx was a childhood in a neighborhood that has changed little despite Charlotte's booming economic growth, and his pledge to correct the oversight.

Foxx also noted how the community's excitement over racially and economically diverse public schools -- like the ones he attended – had faded in a shrinking economy. Though the position of Charlotte mayor has little power over policy or budgets for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Foxx has taken an interest, speaking out often on ways to close an achievement gap and his concern over the growing racial and socioeconomic divide in the system. (It's a reason he was criticized when he moved his young daughter to private school, receiving one of his few negative headlines.)

In Friday's briefing, right up there with the DNC win as recent good news, Foxx mentioned Project LIFT, a pledge of $55 million by business and philanthropic groups to reform struggling schools and at-risk students. That same week, of course, the DNC news crowded out most everything else. (Well, the day of the announcement, Foxx did send out a fund-raising letter looking to a March 10 kick-off event to his own 2011 re-election campaign.)

The 2012 Democratic convention isn't the only concern of Charlotte or of Anthony Foxx. But his fortunes and his future on the national political stage are tied to how the city pulls off the big event. When Democratic National Committee chair Tim Kaine toured Charlotte's arena facilities, Foxx was at his side.

Foxx knows that no matter how much help he has from the host committee, the DNC, city and county officials and a city anxious to put its best foot forward -- he will get the credit and the blame.

The situation got the amateur musician "thinking back to my trumpet" and advice his friend Wynton Marsalis gave him as they traded riffs: "Whether you're the band leader or not, when it comes time to play, you've got to play."


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