Memphis Mayor A C Wharton is already putting his Washington, D.C. connections to use.
As reported by Washington correspondent Bartholomew Sullivan, Wharton was in the nation's capital today discussing The Regional Medical Center at Memphis and other regional issues with the White House liaison to big-city mayors.
Wharton said David P. Agnew, deputy director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, called him on Tuesday and asked him to drop by after learning that he would be in town this week to attend meetings at the Brookings Institution, where Wharton is a nationally recognized expert on metropolitan issues such as urban sprawl and intergovernmental cooperation.
Wharton's jaunt to Washington is nothing new. For years he's traveled to national forums as Shelby County mayor.
He worked closely with the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based independent nonpartisan research institution, where he participated in a multiyear initiative aimed at stimulating economic growth in metropolitan areas.
And in March 2008 he was invited by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to participate in a conversation with other big-city mayors about providing incentives for parents to get involved in their childrens' lives.
At the time, Wharton told The Commercial Appeal that through his involvement in national panels, he realized that Shelby County has, for the most part, not been on the radar screen of major philanthropies with dollars to invest locally.
"I view this, if I might selfishly say so, as a product of our efforts to get on that radar screen, " Wharton said at the time, of his efforts to funnel more national dollars locally.
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