Ex-Mayor Kirk Addresses Soon-To-Be-Ex-Mayor Leppert and Other Tom Tidbits

U.S. Conference of Mayors

Mayor Tom Leppert at a panel on job retention and creation yesterday in Washington, D.C.

​That's not exactly what happened, sure, but this afternoon in Washington, D.C., at the 79th Winter Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk delivered the keynote address to a lunch-time audience that included "my mayor" Tom Leppert. Following the mayors' trip to the White House and a closed-door visit with President Obama, Kirk was invited to address the state of the economy and job creation -- coincidentally, the subject of a panel Leppert was on yesterday titled "Mayors and CEOs - Building a New Strategy to Retain and Create Jobs in America," pictured above. Joining Mayor Tom were, among others, Burnsville, Minnesota, Mayor Elizabeth Kautz, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors; and Siemens president and CEO Eric Spiegel.

You can watch the entirety of Kirk's address here (it begins at around the 40-minute mark). He did make one remark of note concerning his tenure as Dallas mayor: "I was never smarter than when my city had money. I was a pretty damn good mayor. But all of the sudden, the public thinks we've lost our minds when times get tough." (Speaking of budget shortfalls ...)

And while we're on the subject of Mayor Tom (and the Super Bowl), on the other side you'll find a You+Dallas video in which the mayor and Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau officials address the expected benefits from being a host city for The Big Game. Says the mayor, "It's not just the game -- it's all the activities that surround it." Tell that to Arlington.