All right the title of this session is confronting crisis and change state and local politics. There are few routes that help prepare a future president to serve in the white house when the time comes, one way is to serve as a u. S. Senator. Of course, several have gone that route. President coolidges predecessor, Warren Harding, of course, being one of those. This service certainly has its advantages as a senator. One has to develop relationships with. Congress know how to effectively advance legislation, learn how to comport oneself on the National Stage and certainly have an awareness of foreign policy. A second preparation for the presidency to serve as a chief executive. Whether that be as a mayor or as a governor. From jimmy carter to ronald reagan, two very different president s and many. Weve certainly had plenty of governor president s as well. Calvin coolidge, as weve heard throughout our sessions, was perhaps the most prepared president in u. S. History. Indeed, he was elected to more offices than any other president. He once was asked if he had any hobbies. He said, well sure. Running for office. Grace must have been thrilled. Well, what did coolidge learn from local and State Government from being a mayor or eventually the president of the state senate . Or Lieutenant Governor and governor before serving, of course, as Vice President and president. Today, well talk about that with a mayor with governor and with a historian. Our prior session to close the morning talked about some of the challenges facing america in the early 1900s. Those were the years, of course, when coolidge was coming up finding his way as a local leader and, then a state leader in massachusetts as mayor. Coolidge certainly gained experience in the nuts bolts of government rails and trolleys preoccupied his thoughts more so than many other topics in those years. Another challenge for coolidge, particularly as he moved on to be governor related to bureaucracy and personnel. As governor, coolidge took up the somewhat massive effort of pruning back the government of the bay state from 118 departments to 20. Repeat. 118 departments to 20. As a part of this shift. Coolidge had to name 60 for Department Heads or other executives. Of course there are many others who already were serving who had to be laid off because didnt save or doing this but thought it was important. Coolidge biographer claude fish reports that coolidge told his successor, governor shannon cox, that this cut in the States Government was the most important single thing that he had done during his gubernatorial period, laying off so many government officials took executive courage. Coolidge that even more so than managing the crisis of the Police Strike. Now of course a big part of leadership whether its in government or otherwise is managing crisis. And for coolidge, that was traumatic in the form of the 1919 Boston Police strike. That strike, as weve heard earlier this morning, was where coolidge made the now famous statement, there is no right to strike against the Public Safety by anybody, anywhere, any time. Its also the strike perhaps ironic to coolidge that boosted him onto the National Stage. And many would argue, put him on the course to become Vice President and eventually president. Coolidge acknowledged this later in his auto biography when he wrote that it was without a doubt that it was the Boston Police strike that took me to national prominence. Discussion of the strike and the crisis will be the final subject of this panel. So we have three esteemed speakers joining us. Were going to start with coolidge mayor, and well hear from a wonderful mayor himself as kurt schmoke. Mr. Schmoke currently is the president of the university of baltimore. He often says hes a recovering politician. Well, he does does everything he does quite well. He served as mayor of baltimore for more than a decade. He was dean of the Howard University law and has served our country in many other ways. And were talking about what one learns from being a mayor and perhaps some other topics as well. Mr. Schmoke. Well, thank you very much, matt. Appreciate it. Its a great pleasure me to be here joining you in the of the centennial of the presidency of Calvin Coolidge. Those of us here recognize there is much to admire about the life work of president coolidge. For me, as a former mayor, i like to highlight the fact that coolidge was among that fraternity of three people who were elected mayors before their service as president of the united states. To fill in the blanks of, that trivia question about who the other were. The answer is Andrew Johnson and grover cleveland. Northampton, massachusetts is one of those fine new england cities founding dates back the mid 17th century. Currently a city of about 30,000 residents. It was about a third of that size when Calvin Coolidge was elected as its mayor in 1909. Interesting. Only the motto of that city is caritas. Education. Justicia, caring. Education. Justice. These words seem quite appropriate for a city that would select coolidge as its leader. Northampton was known for its role in the 19th century as a center for antislavery advocacy and in the 18th century for its role in shays rebellion. Along revolt by farmers and former revolutionary war soldiers against burdensome taxes and unreasonable debt collections. It was in this environment that coolidge decided to make his career. He relished the idea of practicing law in that community. He referred to the practice as being an honorable profession, and he saw participating in local Public Affairs as a to that profession. The reasons sorry, the residents of the city saw two important qualities him which resulted in his election. First, he a genuine interest in local issues. He joined the Republican City committee. He served briefly the city council. And he used his knowledge of law as city solicitor. And second, he conveyed a keen understanding and connection with the day to day struggles of the average family. Quote from his autobiography underscores heres what i mean. And i quote, i know very well what it means to awake in the night and realize that the rent is coming due. Wondering where money is from and with which to pay it. The only way i know of escape from that constant tragedy is to keep running expenses low enough so that something may be saved to meet the day when earnings may be small, unquote. Coolidge was very much a man, a part of not apart from his community. The campaign and election in northampton in 1909 revealed other of coolidge that the country would see during his presidency his democratic opponent in that election, harry bricknell, was a small businessman who also happened to be a personal friend of coolidge. They ran a campaign without vitriol, though one National Issue with repercussions did energize some of the voters. That issue was the control of alcohol. But both men tried to minimize its importance. Coolidge knew that in order to win, he to appeal to a Broad Spectrum of voters. Those who were considered a minority in North Hampton in 1909 and whose votes he needed were irish immigrants. Coolidge was straightforward, low key in his appeal to all groups. His message was the following quote i want you to help. I need your help. Appreciate your help, unquote. Today we would those words as a tweet. But buckley really, they were effective in their simplest city for that election. Coolidge notes that he won by 165 votes and then as one of the first postal election actions. He penned this note to his opponent, quote, my dear harry, my most serious regret of the election is that you cannot share the entire pleasure of the result with me, unquote. That was a kind gesture. Another demonstration of the character of Calvin Coolidge. By the way, harry was eventually elected mayor of northampton. Although slightly exaggerated elected public life be divided, in my view, in two categories policy, development and service. The presidency on the policy Development Side of that distinction with the mayoralty being primarily on the Service Delivery side of the ledger, governors fall somewhere in between that scale. But ill that discussion to overall two others. Well mayor coolidge showed himself to be a very effective executive demonstrating trait traits that a National Audience would later in his career. He was careful with the management of public funds when land from the town was sold to neighboring holyoke. He invested those funds for the future benefit of his constituent base to attract and retain good teachers. He raised teachers. He refused to go along with those who proposed building a new city hall because of its cost. And he fought against mandates from the state legislature, which sought to assume control over alcohol licensing, because that was traditionally a matter of local control since the revenue from licensing was a source of revenue for the city. Fighting legislate mandates is clearly something we would see from him later in his career. The lessons coolidge learned from his time as mayor positively affected, the way he conducted himself as an executor. At the state and national level, those lessons resonate with us today. He saw in a direct way how Government Action can have both beneficial and detrimental impacts on the quality of life of people controlling spending, targeting investment incentives, private sector activity, maintaining Public Safety, operating in an inclusive manner. Those coolidge lessons should serve as a reminder to current leaders of how progress can be achieved when. We focus on seeking consensus, not division. I was not exaggerating the significance. The coolidge mayoralty on the coolidge, he wrote, and i on the first monday of january 1910, i began public career. That was to continue until the first monday of march 1929. It was when it was to end my own volition. Unquote. And later, in his autobiography, he wrote of all the honors that have come to me, i cherish a very high place. The confidence of my friends and neighbors in making me their mayor. Unquote. From Service Delivery to policy. Calvin coolidge exemplifies some of the best qualities of Servant Leadership ever seen in our country. Thank you, mayor schmoke. Our next speaker is a governor. The mayor said hed leave some thoughts for the governor to fill in. So thats your job, governor sununu, the former governor of, New Hampshire coolidges neighboring state from vermont. Governor sununu is chief of staff. So he knows a thing or two about president s as well. Governor sununu, please. For those of you who are expecting a young governor of New Hampshire, governor sununu, i apologize. Youre stuck with the old and ancient version and i hope to have a little bit of the he might have displayed here. As we all know Calvin Coolidge was born and buried in vermont. He contributed most of his Public Service in massachusetts since Calvin Coolidge was, in fact, a true englander. He grew and thrived in that region. Where for well over the First Century of americas existence local boards and local dominated the political process. Coolidges new england thrived under a system of government, with the town meeting as the principal tool of community management, Calvin Coolidge took the oath of president of the united states. When Warren Harding died, he assumed that office with two years of executive experience as governor of the state of massachusetts sits and two years of experience as Vice President. But moore spent significantly. He came to the white house with a commitment to Public Service from a state where, over his lifetime, limiting the intrusion of government was a cherished tenet. After serving on the city council and serving as mayor of the city, coolidge was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature and to the state senate. After his election to the third term as. A state senator. Calvin gave what is known as his have faith in massachusetts. Now as an aside here that may have been appropriate 100 years ago, but youd be to make that same statement today. That speech was more than a reflection on massachusetts. Coolidge drew on precepts from beyond the borders of massachusetts. He drew on old new england traditions. He described a philosophy of governing grounded in the liberty and the personal freedom. That inspired ethan of vermont. John langdon of New Hampshire, and the minutemen of lexington. His speech echoed the aspirations that fueled the Boston Tea Party and sustained americans as they fought the revolution against the british. Coolidges message was have faith and message it. Have faith in knowing and have faith in the power of selfgovernment. Do your work. Do not hurry to legislate. Have faith in the people. Representative government must be preserved. Recognize the worth and dignity of men. And never forget that we are all peers with equality before the law. In a new england town meeting, all voters have a say in the regulations, the spending and the tax ation that takes place within their community. Its the ultimate form of deliberate democracy. The democracy that of town meetings, animated the political philosophy of the six New England States over americas First Century and a half. Calvin coolidge should cherish that discipline of local control and self budgeting. And he held to that frugality as he reduced federal spending. He cut taxes and he paid down debt. With local control, people vote on how spend their own budget and thus decide their own taxes. They manage their they decide which roads be built and how to police and protect their community. They budget in tax, knowing that the goal of government is not to redistribute wealth but to create it. That very same discipline in reinforced coolidges commitment to limited government and value of selfreliance and individual responsibility. He came to the presidency from a system accustomed to balance town budgets, balanced state budgets and a and an aversion to raise taxes in that have faith in massachusetts speech. Coolidge spoke of standing together and how and how laws must be passed on more than just the will of the majority. He lauded the value of representative government, and he understood and underscored neither government nor legislature could or should be the be for success. He also warned that government, though, must care for the truly needy, must not become a crutch for all. He extolled the worth of selfgovernment and noted selfgovernment means selfsupport. Coolidges values were the bedrock values of new england of new england republic and ism, and they came and they were the values that he implemented as he governed. They came easily to him as he met his responsive. He was committed frugality not to save money, but to save the people from being overburdened by taxes. In the 1920s. New england republicans held about 90 of the region seats in the new in the u. S. Senate and 90 of the regions seats in the house representatives. As a political bloc, new england republicanism of that era stood strong and noble. In contrast to a Democrat Party dominated by the still racist kkk southern states, new england Republican Values provided the framework for the growth prosperity and exuberance of the decade that heritage heritage helped america through its postworld war one recovery. By the 1920s, the republican schism of new england had been exported to the newly established western and a renewed commitment to personal liberty and personal freedom catalyzed the exuberance of the roaring twenties. That exuberance, accompanied by a broad, broad application of the mercantile philosophy of new england summer ized and coolidges statement that quote, the chief business of the American People is business, close quote. It fueled a decade long economic, technological and cultural boom. Coolidge knew that the government belonged to the people. He knew that property belonged to the people. He knew that taxes were paid by the people. And he knew that benefits of government must accrue the people just, as were those who had gathered in philadel for a century and a half earlier. Coolidge was ever mindful that governments, unless managed and controlled tend to grow autocratic. As power flows upward to a central government, layers of government become more and more unresponsive to the real needs of people. The local level. Coolidge. That personal liberty and personal freedom are diminished when power drifts upward and becomes entrenched in a centralized government. In a lifetime of Public Service. Coolidge respected the responsibility and the need for that accountability. He understood the fundamental theory of federalism embodied in the constitution. Once the power of government is entrenched in institutions. Too far away to be informed of local needs and become too, in a sense, inaccessible. To be responsive to the people. That government can no longer be efficient or effective on his public road to the presidency, his appreciation of constant tution of federalism grew stronger as. President coolidge strove to restore the balance among the people, the states and our National Government. That was Calvin Coolidges most significant contract as a Great American president. Thank you, governor. I said wed hear from a mayor, a governor and a historian. We have a pretty darn good one. Amity shlaes here. Coolidge, his biographer, and, of course, our chairman, the coolidge foundation. Coolidge was tested often. When we talk about president ial rankings, people say, well, coolidge didnt face any real challenges or any any major crisis. Thats why hes not ranked as high as others. He did face some major challenge. He happened to be governor, governor of the bay state of massachusetts in 1919. So to tell us about the drama and the outcome, please welcome amity shlaes wright. And thank you for coming. Before i launch into this, i just want to say, when we thought about whom to invite and what topics to address at this conference, we thought a little bit what would coolidge do . And i think coolidge would governors and mayors lasso senators, even though we have senators at the coolidge foundation. He did like the very things governors sununu and mayor schmoke described. He liked the responsibility local government. He liked he knew that local governments are the needs of people. So i suppose my my mention of the strike will be about a third quality that mayors, governors have, which is ingenuity. Sometimes National Problem can be solved or crystallizes first and maybe even can be solved by a mayor or a governor. We look to National Government thats thats the ambition maybe local government is the stairway to National Government that may be the true genius lies in the subordinate levels maybe. Theyre the stronger part of the nation and thats what i was thinking about when and maybe from position of governor or you can teach the rest of the country once you youve been ingenious and the whole country will follow you things go upside down. Thats another version. The world turned upside down. Governors leading National Government. But it happens the time. I. When you ask where do National Policies come from . Often they will come from a state to the strike and what happens and im just going to sort of tell the story and history indeed very chancy. None of this had to happen quite the way it would. And before coolidge, if crystallized, can be a transit a verb crystallize the issue. Public sector strikes for the nation. That issue had to crystallize in coolidges brain and you can sort of watch it happening in time through this strike. The year was 1919. Rebellion was in the air. Coolidge was a freshman governor. And youll recall that the term of a governor in massachusetts at that time was one year. So the poor governor had to run for office prepared there. The russian revolution. What there was a civil war in russia. So the revolution there was happening in real time. There were sympathizers there, sympathizers in the u. S. With the russian revolutionaries. Whether the kerensky government, which was at that time or with that trotsky or, you know, or eventually in america, it really were it was a purgatorial. Air strikes were everywhere. In seattle, in 1919, coolidges freshman governor year, his new year, workers from 101 unions had idled industry in seattle. Its nothing new. Seattle is a political place. There was what we call a general strike, which is also sometimes called a sympathy strike. When industries are unrelated to the industry that chose to go out on strike, also strike to strengthen the case for the industry thats chosen to strike first. And that general strike was so powerful that people commented for the days it it went in seattle. Nothing but the tide moved. Nothing but the tide moved in in boston, the mutiny did come in the form of a strike by the Boston Police to. Start with as as was laid out so beautifully by george nash and by garland tucker and the team before coolidge was known as a progressive. The new governor had quite a progressive rep reputation point to the policeman decided they want to strike suffered from genuine grievance is the inflation. Another similarity today is under acknowledged Inflation Inflation we actually shrank their pay packets. They struggled to cover expenses. These policemen and ill read you a line from the boston labor world, one of their newspaper. Can a man single or married, even live on such a wage he manages to exist . That is all rats prowl the shelves. The Police Station houses they chewed through the leather of the helmets of the policemen. Not while the policemen were wearing the helmets, but while the helmets were beside them as they slept on their dirty cots in the dirty station house that did not was not where they did not dignify their situation. And many of them had given their all in the recent war or other wars member too that at that time there were stoplights everywhere. Boston was not fully electrified. So how did but cars had arrived so how did traffic get managed by men with white gloves at intersections who were those men . Those were policemen. So you have a city where people have a lot of cars, cant drive very well. I havent even decided which side of the road to drive and they need the Police Traffic cops to tell them theres no yet about driving school and cars break down all the time. So you can imagine just that one aspect. Traffic manager, how important the police were to the boston was as the wife of John Maynard Keynes used to say very upheavals. At that time, very much disrupted by the return upheaval though like so much from return of the soldiers from the war on boats where they landed in the port of boston, no accidents. Seattle and boston are both ports people land there in a mood. Theyre not quite ready to leap into civilian life. Yet many are angry. Many of the vets there was union established in boston that met a tram on temple where coolidge gave speeches. The new governor, the union of the crippled and the blind that is there was so many people hurt in world war one that they their their one thought was to unionize and they did have troubles and the government was insufficiently addressing those troubles. All that made the Police Reason that if they went out on strike september 1919. Well, they might get a conciliation. You recall that i think it was george who mentioned the coolidge been actually head of a committee on conciliation. A few years back right with an earlier strike, he was a conciliation conciliator. They thought, well, were not proposing a revolution. And by the way, they werent affiliating the Boston Police, very lovable people with wobblies, with the anarchists, with any of the wild unions. They were affiliating with the rather american federal federation, labor of sam gompers, which, by the way, had the political protection of of president wilson, who is friendly sam gompers, and had a lot authority in the nation at that moment. The what . There was this little factoid in the story, the Police Contract did not allow the policemen to walk out on strike. But i think the police in the heat of the moment and given the revelou an across the world and given the bland mildness they they took to be coolidge viewed that contract issue as a technicality that might be swept away in the tide of 1919 history. Finally they they walked soft but they carried a big stick. The police they could always call other unions. New unions join them in a general as in boston. And everybody knew that well. The mayor of seattle, whose name is only hanson and had managed to force the general strikers that spring before he had also been completely exhausted and had actually retired from government, including his mayor job in the summer of 1919 and said, im in a now, go fishing. That is it. It sort of wrecked him. Maybe it had made him, but mostly it had wrecked him. For the moment, it appeared that only hanson had been wrecked by his general strike. Well, when the policeman did walk out just around the time of labor day, that was signified. Great moment, ray. Riots indeed erupted in upheaval old boston and crowds rampage raged in the streets and they broke shop windows. Remember, somebody mentioned coolidges greatest funder was a man who had a department, mr. Stern so. So coolidge knew all about every window that broke in boston he knew about, right. In terms of the commercial class and what it was experiencing. Bricks were hurled at the volunteer replacement outs who came in when thousand policemen left. There was terrible trouble at the intersections as. Drivers who cant drive competing to get across the intersection and no traffic cop stoplight shop owners at the Police Stations which were still manned by some to apply for a pistol licenses because they wanted to defend their wares. And as today that sort of fancy shops were targeted, jewelers and so on, injuries and deaths mounted and the Police Commissioner did, not cave gompers, the labor leader, did kind of offer an indirect threat by allowing in public grumbling where the press could hear him that worse come in boston if the Police Commissioner did not negotiate with the policeman i suppose he is willing to assume the response abilities for the consequences of his action that he being the Boston Police commissioner gompers moderator what would coolidge do. I forgot to mention one factor. Coolidge famous for getting the immigrant vote. What were the immigrants irish americans. Theres a gorgeous dissertation by john l. Blair, who did work his dissertation at the university of chicago around 1971, detailing every aspect of coolidge, his gubernatorial experience, and counting the votes. And he explains, you think coolidge, you know boston. Oh, well coolidge was a swamp. Coolidge from western mass. Western mass was the frontier. And there were a lot of immigrants. He had a lot of trouble when he didnt go along with what the german brewery wanted or the irishamericans wanted. And he was very those people elected him. So he was if turned against the policeman he was turning it on the very people who gave him his sometimes narrow margin of victory what do you do. He called out the state guard. He called other new england governors, not yet named sununu, but soon to send their state guards. They did. They were all friends they had been together in poland, springs, maine, at a resort. And a few days into the riots even the police themselves were finding themselves appalled. They they didnt mean it to be this bad in boston, no national stories. Boston a wreck. Boston a joke. You know, like that. It was humiliating. And the maine labor leader from afar, sam gompers, kind modulated his tone. He said the Police Strike was merely natural reflex. So the futile attempts by the policemen to improve their working conditions absolutely accurate and there was another headline, i was kind of trolling around, looking again last night to refresh cops want to work. Cops were ready to conciliate the moment had come by. Coolidge did not cancel yet. And here are some coolidge quotes and listen to his syntax. This is where i dont understand. Coolidge is ranked only 41 is a writer in the siena poll. The action of the police in leaving their posts of duty. Not a strike period. It is a desertion. It is a desertion. A contract that prohibits strikes such as the policemans was technicality. Coolidge in contracts common law. Thats what judge edith thought us the striking policemen were fired and would stay fired, though coolidge himself actually, as he says in his autobiography and he never lies helped some of them find jobs, other sectors. Right. Very brutal. And what coolidge said, which is the National Part of the story, that there was a difference between an industrial worker strike and a Public Sector workers strike. All these strikes had a mix nature. When you have a general strike, you have public, private, public and private sector strikers, as in seattle service, coolidge was an honor and he did draw that straight from charles. His college teacher. We heard about an earlier that year even before the strike kids expressed the same philosophy when he vetoed raises another kind of public servant. I e his fellow legislators. He said service in the General Court. Thats government, the legislature of the state of massachusetts and is not obligated tary service in the General Court is not obligatory. Gentlemen or any ladies yet, but option. No, i and he vetoed their we dont really the money to give you a raise now coolidge sent his famous wire to gompers. It was more of a missile, a missive, if you know what i mean. And the telegraph, punctuation even has the effect of some kind of barrage or artillery fire. Okay. So im going to read it with the telegraph punctuation. Your assertion that the commissioner wrong cannot justify the wrong of leaving the city unguarded. Stop. Thats the stop in a telegram. Because theres no periods and no quote marks. Right no question marks, coolidge concluded with in telegraph fees. Its kind of wrong down the decades there no right to strike against the Public Safety comma by anybody comma, anywhere, comma, any time. Stop so you have to get the full thing and thats in jonell blairs dissertation. I dare anyone to find that telegraph paper it mysteriously disappeared. Was doubtless taken by some researcher prior to me please find it all researchers in maybe somewhere in meg mcculloughs trove. Im praying. Okay so this was a tough stand many praised his move who was really wasnt sure of the political fate or it wasnt even you know he was in shock at what he himself had said. I think his opponent in the gubernatorial, richard long, with whom he was also friendly. More evidence of bipartisanship. Coolidge and said a broad minded governor would have been able to satisfy them. The police and at the same time protect the dignity and honor of boston, massachusetts. You let us down, dear calvin. And coolidge wrote to his father. People applaud me a great deal, but i am not sure that in the next election, which was just two months away, they will vote me. Mm hmm. Still he noted. This is the letter to dad. This was a service that had be done, knows the abstract way he spoke. He turned it into an of philosophy. This was a service that had to be done. The result wont matter for me, but it will matter a great deal for the rest of america. The firing, the police, tragic as it was, that was important. It did to the rest of america because coolidge took a categorical action. And that inspired fellow governors and inspired many mayors, all of whom were confronting labor unrest. What are the what is the limit of labor action . Is was the real question . Well, coolidge had drawn a line in the sand. And when these people learned of boston, even the ones who supported the unions in many ways as we all do they felt relief the line in the sand was now there. Coolidge didnt win his gubernatorial election. Coolidge helped New York Times never changes. He already heres just the New York Times headline coolidge helped by angry democrats. Coolidge helped by angry not coolidge held by truth in life coolidge held by anger that democrats who lost are anyway. But even president wilson spoke up and said his own telegrams to governor coolidge by their friendship. I congratulate you upon your election is a victory for law and order when that is the issue we all stand together. So lets feel a little about president wilson and freshman governor from. Drubbed by chris chris cox as hes been there. He had at least one good line. The freshman governor from massachusetts it suddenly became National Material and, hoped kind of that he would be nominated for the slot, but there wasnt enough for that. And he got the Vice President slot represented a law and order on that ticket. They won, as you know, in 23. Coolidge himself was. But i think his 19, 19 strike message inspired statesmen. Theres evidence of this is a law for change in attitudes long past coolidges retirement as u. S. President even that most progressive of president s president franklin balked at strikes by Public Sector employees. Is it sort . He said, president roosevelt such action looking the paralysis of government a very telling metaphor chosen by president roosevelt in a good way. I mean, hes talking about what he knows was. Unthinkable, intolerable, and then public unions and, even strikes became more common later. But there are many states now that restricts or ban strikes public employees. So this year, the centennial of the coolidge presidency, thats a mini example of, how it doesnt just work that everyone else takes his cue from washington more the other way we more we think take the cue a local government and very often the voice that speaks of gives a cue is that of a mayor or a governor and. Okay, now im going to ask a few questions to our panelists and then well turn the audience for some q a. Federalism certainly has been a theme that has come up in each of your remarks. Many call it today of to the ills of of our of our governments. But maybe well start with mayor schmoke. When you were serving mayor of a large city, what were the tensions in federalism . How did you manage to to, you know, keep from from state use stations and federal. Well, lets let me just note that i served under several different president s. Its my that i served 12 unindicted years as mayor of bravo. The i came into office under president reagan and then president bush and then clinton and it what i tried to do and it was to encourage the notion that we were partners in addressing the problems of citizens that sometimes those from the federal government wanted to micromanage the cities. They would see programs and assume that there was a cookie cutter model that should apply to every local and you had to squeeze your city into the model that they set forth the other hand there is other elected at the federal level that say, lets all look at a target or a goal and you can the strategy towards that goal. So can imagine which philosophy i thought was the best. And thats why i said that sometimes Government Action can be detrimental and sometimes it could be very beneficial and as long as you agreed to together as as partners, you were actually achieving progress. Thank you, governor your own experience as a governor trying to respect the localities, not put cookie Cutter Solutions on nashua and grantham and lebanon and hanover. Well, leading as a governor of your state, when you have a federal government that, has perhaps sometimes other ideas. Well, first of all, the problems the federal government is mayor has pointed out usually has laws being made down here by people who have never tried to implement those laws, executive experience and happens across the board in virtually every federally funded. Its egregious in its in health care and governors republic and then democrat are constantly fighting shoulder to shoulder against this trying to explain the federal government that they waste more money by buy not provide the flexibility that the mayor talked about that would be so valuable. The best thing federal government could do, the governors constantly telling them, is take the same amount of funds, define a goal and block block, grant the money to the states and the cities so that they implement it to get the goal that the federal government would achieved in terms of what we do from the state level to, our communities. Im very proud the fact that that in New Hampshire, at least the idea of local control is still predominant. We have no sales tax. We have no income tax. Most of the taxes raised the local level, local taxes, and that gives them the leverage. And were happy they have that leverage to to have the process the control of the process at the local. The beauty of it is every year we have elections for the legislature. Every years for the governor, every two years for local Budget Committees and selectmen and School Boards are every year at least a half at a third, but usually a half are for reelection. And so if you dont like whats happening in your community you, you replace the board and you replace them pretty quickly. And as i said, in terms of allocating the funds, the Community Goes to the town meeting. They vote article by article on the budget and then they die as a result of that theyre told what their tax rate is to be same happens with the school board, the School Budget is voted on the same way. So its the last place in america, i think, where and im not trying to put a plug for New Hampshire, but im trying to put a plug for the philosophy. Its the last place in america where that level of true local is there. And now in terms of a plug, if youd like to, see a real Calvin Coolidge village speech, take a look at the speech by the recently elected governor of the state of New Hampshire. Given last january, it really of Calvin Coolidge in terms of cutting taxes, reduce regulations, getting rid of 700 license requirements and sending money to the community so they could spend it the way they want it still can be done. Let me make one more point about the strength and importance of a requirement for a balanced budget. When you are forced to think about a balanced. You have to work hard. You cant just give things away. The biggest problem we have at the federal government level is that if you want to govern at the federal government level and be popular, you just give money to another group, to this group and to that group. And without a balanced budget requirement, fool can do it down here in the states republican and democrat, governors have to deal with a balanced budget requirement and they make the hard decisions. I think training really is why Calvin Coolidge had such a successful presidency. Coolidge and governor, you quoted from have played them out. I just want to say im proud of my son, too, but hes not elected yet. We probably be there wont be. Then youll wait by the phone like i do, waiting to be asked for advice. While were speaking about fathers, i want to say hi to my own his whos joining here with my mother. Its great to. Governor quoted and help explain to us coolidges very wellknown speech. I have faith in massachusetts and you said part of one of the lines which dont hurry to legislate. What he says after that is give administration a chance to catch up with legislation. And i fear of perhaps we have forgotten about that. We could use that wisdom as. Former public leaders of your own operating the executive branch. Whats your thought about working a legislature or a city council . And is there a tendency to create too many laws. Well, the bane of Good Government is the legislative branch. They feel that when they get elected, they have to do something and they think they get credit for undoing something. So they are constantly pasting new frosting, the old cake and and they have to have something thing. They feel that that they will be known for and that new programs expand, programs, spending when its not necessary, oblige spending when its not necessary and and it really is what creates the monstrosity of the bureaucracy. Because every time you create a new program you need a bureaucracy to manage that program. And i think what coolidge was talking about was the fact that that unfortunately, too often are passed a program is and the legislature then forgets about it whether the legislature at the federal or the legislature at the state level and its up then to the executive branch to try and manage it as efficiently and as effectively as can. And they run into all constraints that the law brought with it into the process the administration that coolidge is talking about, i think is a concern that the bureaucracy seems to grow willy nilly and as was pointed earlier, he worked with with Due Diligence and aggressively to reduce the number of departments that he had, the size of the departments were there. And i think youll find in america, across most executive branches, not all, but most executive branches and governors, republican and democrat, theyre pretty determined, not to let this monstrosity of a blob continue to grow without any kind of regulation or control. Yeah, and the governors comments fit with something that judge jones was talking about earlier. You do get a lot of legislation thats passed and then theres a delegation to executive offices to interpret and implement and its often youre fighting against the those agencies and not just the the legislature that passed the law. So it gets be quite a vicious circle and so youre fighting in many different ways to try to implement something. Then another law will get passed on top of that which gets delegated down to several in by the way, this happens in private too. In my academic life before i got involved in politics, i chaired the Budget Committee at Tufts University and we would have four example the guidance would come in looking for 12 new personnel the next year and their argument. Well the federal government says have to have a Guidance Department but it doesnt say you need 12 new people and bureau crazies tend to interpret laws to maximize their size and their impact and control and and governors, good mayors fight that constantly. Emily, as we pointed out at the beginning, coolidge said that was harder. It took more sort of executive and effort to reorganize as the massachusetts State Government from those hundred and 18 departments done to 20. That was harder than managing Boston Police strike. Do you think thats true . Why do think you would have said that layoff it. Let. Well it was moving from being a deliverer to what was the second thinking policy developed to a as a policy developer it was it was a fine thing to do to lay off friends and eliminate their departments but as a Service Delivery, deliver inevitably youre delivering to your constituents right. Youre to the town of northam town that once a near beer you would support a near even in the era of probably and whats interesting is to watch coolidge transition from Service Delivery to policy or philosophy of government and he did veto the near beer but the context being prohibition was on message its had plenty of breweries the were coolidges considered agents germanamericans for example the Legislature Passes a near beer law. Think of it as a near marijuana law. You something something kind of a law. Well and an important law economically for someone whos already a brewer who already has the vats and the equipment. And now he wont have to shut company down. But coolidge vetoed it because the the amendment to the constitution had been passed and the volstead act was just in the process. The actual legislation to to to enforce amendment to the constitution was just being written. And the Supreme Court had ruled. And he said, lets wait till the supreme rules on and the volstead act but the philosophy here is clear and i dont find it cute even if i have to hurt my constituents to to go along with that. So you see the transformation in his leadership from from something very close to his town where he understood the needs and of course, wanted to deliver where he could to a distant lawmaker who represented whole politics, something closer to what edmund burke would have would have discussed. And is evident in Edmund Burkes action in the uk when he turned away his constituents because he was making stand on something in the name, the whole polity. But you to watch coolidge go through this evolue you know through his career something that struck me listening to our speakers is from Service Delivery to development, perhaps too many who end up in policy development, dont have experience in Service Delivery, meaning maybe two things. One, theyre more eager to take on more policy development and they might be if they knew about the implementation of it, that being the first and the second being, you know, they just dont have the experience to know the implementation. Some of the problems that you talked about, mayor matt, we were constantly to washington to explain that theres no democrat or republican way to fill a pothole. I mean, you you know, you get it done. You dont argue the philosophy of you know whats the youre putting in there you its a very different approach to problem solving and thats why you see at the conference of mayors or the u. S. Conference a National Conference of governors you just see the same tension, maybe the Vice President and it touched on it a little bit when. He said, you know, you move 50 miles outside of d. C. , you get a different of politics, a different sort of approach to to Public Service and. I think all these factors the governor mentioned needing the balanced budget, needing the Service People immediately go into whole process and. And one more point, governors and mayors live every day their constituents. Youre there, you go out, you walk five feet from your house, you run somebody thats a voter in washington. Everybody lives down here. And they dont see their voters until theyre in the mood to go home for a half a day. So its big, big difference. Before we one last question for me, then were going to turn it over to the audience for some questions, both of you, very solution oriented leaders in your time in office just like coolidge, all of our young people, or many of them, i think, aspire to be leaders in whatever field they end up in, many in Public Service. And i think its vitally important people realize that selfgovernment literally means selfgovernment, taking care of yourself, not looking to others to solve all problems. How did the two of you get your first steps to be on the career to iran . And what advice might you have for young people . Well, political or, you know, a lot of good is done, not in politics do well anybody you know just for those of you might thinking about local government for example i was the mayor i was i was the states attorney the day i threw people in jail for 11. So for five years, i was as the d. A. I come to as elected mayor and my first few months in office i was approaching the job way i did as states. The states attorney, you dont have to go out and get it build a consensus on who to indict. And so my approach to office was very different until a former mayor came to see me one day and, said, kurt, youve got to understand that the word mayor is a verb. So people have to see you, mayor. You have to be out as the governor. If you be among people, they have to see you in action. So you can develop all the great policies. And i was writing all these wonderful memos when i was in my first couple months and and i was losing touch with exactly the problems that i came to solve. So one of the things i would simply advise if youre going to get involved, particular if youre going to be involved at the local level, make sure you understand then that people have to see in action. I have to see exactly hands on the problems that youre trying to solve. Terrific. All right. Lets turn to questions from the audience. Okay, lets go right here. Matthew tweeden. Tweet from the microphone coming already. One thing that stands out to me about decreasing capabilities of, state and local leaders to exercise their response in their authorities is the broad federal power creep by massive expansion of administrative agencies of the bureaucracy, particularly for you, governor sununu, when you came to dc, came to run a white house that looks fundamental, wholly different from the one that coolidge would sat in. Right. It is centered around a massive and expensive bureaucracy, a lot of which responsibility landed on your shoulders as chief of staff to to to oversee and engage with what from that experience did you bring back to recognize is like the the way that administrative bureaucracy affects state and local governance and what substantive steps can be taken to help reprieve some of that stress placed on our local leaders. Well i to to washington not seeking to come to washington but i had Just Announced i wasnt going to run for another term governor. And and helped george bush get get the nomination and then get elected. And i thought i was done with my public life. I had served two year terms. Im an engineer i love being an engineer. I was going to go back and and president bush asked me to come down and and i really was very excited about coming. But we had a long talk and he asked me if i would come down to be chief of and and i finally said would and to his i think he understood that that he needed somebody that really did understand the problems of the states and government. And and i been governor he knew i to implement domestic policy. He knew i had to deal a legislature. He that i had had to deal with the government in washington. And so what what i brought to the table was of of having been in State Government and understanding the problems that the white house, the executive branch of washington was going to have, trying to get the best kind of response out of state and local government, among other things, and so i it was more a question of bringing that then learning something here to apply back elsewhere. It was a very different experience, i think, for the white house. I dont other than sherman adams, who was also an exgovernor of New Hampshire, who served as chief of staff for eisenhower i dont think any other governor ever served as chief of staff. And i think George Herbert bush deserves credit for understanding the benefits that experience would bring to his white house. Now i can tell you that people in washington were not often happy when they discovered that somebody was in the white house that knew about the legislation they had passed. They did. But thats thats a fact of life anywhere that. The most important thing you can do if youre trying to deal with anything in life, negotiate a contract deal with an issue, policy, negotiate, budget changes or negotiate needs in legislation, always go into the room knowing about the subject and the person you have to deal with. And thats what we tried to bring to the table. Excuse john to lets go to the side of the. Thank you. By the way, thanks to the folks are bringing around the microphones not an enviable. Im francisco. Or aj go by both names from tennessee. I just wanted to ask mayor smoke you talk about this idea of mayor as a verb governor sununu you sort of critical of Congress People here in washington who dont spend enough time their constituents or at least relative to governors. At the same time, i listen to people like senator angus king, governor jim douglas, who talk about the importance of people in Congress Actually spending more time in d. C. , getting to know the people theyre working with. How do you all find the importance in the way to strike this balance between getting to know the people that youre working under day to day and getting to know the constituents youre serving . I want to hear from the mayor and the governor, but also im what the historical angle of this is. How is how has that changed over time in washington, time spent with constituents. Well, actually, for many of the our Congress People now particularly in the in the house of representatives, they are spending a lot of time outside of washington. But a lot of that time fundraising and enormous amount of time that they coming down to these offices off of the hill and in their community, raising millions of dollars run for reelection. One of the matters used to bring people together here in washington was National Prayer breakfast, and that even now theyre having difficulty of bringing people together for that. So i my my best answer to you is that folks have to strike a theres clearly a need to get to know one another in a very personal way and not just think of folks with labels. Hes a d or shes a d. Im not going to talk to her. His and our shes and im not going to talk to her. So theres a need for people to to get to know one another as well as to back to the constituents and my my hope over time them is that in some way the technology is actually going to help a little bit more and theres zoom world is in some helping us a little bit the people participating in like town Hall Meetings where can actually see folks and interact with people and maybe thats way that theyll strike a balance but need to do both get to know one another here understanding the philosophies each one but also make sure that you know what your constituents want want. Okay, lets go to the back of the room. I, i hi there. Im john cochran and im skilled at getting my hand up first. Like you. I have always believed philosophy fiscally and local government the wonders of being close to the electorate and its responsiveness. But i grew up in chicago and now i live in california and all i got to do is look out the window and it doesnt give tremendous faith in the competence, effectiveness and downright honesty of officials in the major function of the federal government. Chicago is to regularly in jail aldermen, not a mayor yet. Were working on it. And thats why. So thats why i mentioned i served 12 on in that year that but i would just hope for you to revive my faith what can we do that local and State Government can become responsive, effective and not the sort of cesspool that it is, at least where ive always lived. Remember, every one of those governments was elected the people and if they want if you know the people have stop allowing themselves to be bought by the heroine of programs, you know it at some it was mentioned earlier today that education is important education is is critical you cannot have government function at level if the people arent smart enough to give themselves Good Government. And so you really do have to to conduct education process. It is not at one time there was Good Government chicago since you use that the example at one time there was Good Government in california by the way have two strikes now. One more and youve had it but but the fact is that in spite of everything weve said up here, it all back to the people get what they vote for and people to start getting smart enough to understand and that theyre causing themselves their own problems and unfortunately, it happens in large, congested urban areas more than anywhere else. And and i wish i could give you a magic solution to it other than somebodys got to figure out a way to begin to communicate how people can vote in their own voting is, a self interest process. And there is nothing wrong with with recognizing that that community has to come together to make their community better, but theyve got to be part of the process. They cannot ignore responsibility of figuring out how to do it right once structural issue that helps its its been slow in coming. The independent inspector generals that they really help to but theyve got to be truly independent and have enough resources so that elected officials know that somebodys seriously looking over their shoulder. And if they dont do right, they will end up in suits. Coolidge once said the people who start to elect a man to get what he can for his district probably find they have elected man who will get what he can for himself. So ill propose to the last question we have time for maybe one or two more questions. Lets go over here. The side. Hi my name is justin mallard. I am from blueberry, massachusetts. 10 minutes right outside of boston so in massachusetts is still illegal for state employees to strike. We recently a movement had a strike from all our teachers and so for a week none of the kids to go to school because the teachers are striking their spots from the local the State Government was to the Teachers Union 1,000 100,000 at the start and 40,000 per day. Do you i guess this is a question for the entire panel, but with a number one is this something that that coolidge have done himself or would he done the taking a different action . And number two, is this something that you would have done or recommended doing . When i was governor the state employees decided to go out on a strike, i was coming back from an event at 10 00. In those days, we have cell phones. But i was being by a state trooper who got a message on the state police radio that we should pull over and i should call the attorney general. So i pulled a phone. I dont know if the young people know, but in those days there was a box with a dial. And i called them and and he told me the state employees union just voted to strike i told him to get a court judge out of bed and get in there and. Let him remind them in no Uncertain Terms that they dont have the right to strike. At 2 00, the judge called a hearing the state Employee Union representatives were there. My attorney general did a great job of presenting the state and the judge ruled that the state union hierarchy had to take the list of 12,000 state employees divided amongst themselves and get the phones right away. And calling individually all the state employees and telling them, they better be back to work the next day and keep a memorandum of each conversation and remind the state employees that they would be fired if they didnt up. Nobody failed to show up. One last one. Applaud me. Applaud the judge. He did the right thing. You got him out of bed. Okay, lets go right here. Final question. Hello my name is lauralee godfrey, and i am from portsmouth, New Hampshire. Question is for the elder governor sununu elder earl. As former mayor schmoke said, there are typically two responsibilities of elected Officials Development and Service Delivery. How did you those responsibilities as governor and so specifically which responsible policy development and Service Delivery. Oh well well. You almost do them hand in hand every time you develop a policy youve got to do to implement it and. Yes. You know, policies have been developed. You got there. So came into office and and i took office when. I beat an incumbent in a year in 82, which was a bad republican year and and so i was kind of surprised i got elected but i came into office and the expected was that the state was going to have a huge and and that was going to if he gotten reelected, he was going to have impose an income tax which. We dont have in New Hampshire, no sales tax, income tax. And so i had to start policies in place that would cut the budget and and address some of the that had been put in place providing Service Delivery to constituencies that had become used to them. So am i am shaving Service Delivery in some cases by developing new policy and in some cases shaving, Service Delivery or restructuring Service Delivery by combining programs and bike by making new policy, if you will, on things like medicaid on things like welfare or on things like school aid and so on. So they really go hand in hand because. You are reshaping old delivery by. The new policy that youre making and youve got to do it while youre continuing to operate the old rules until the new legislation is passed. So as much as you can think of them as two separate response responsibilities, youve got to in order to do either one of them properly, think of them as being. Two slices of the same piece of bread and and youve got to work on it that way. Very good. Please join me in a big round of applause for our panel jeff. Oh