Fix The Debt

Scott Smith, Mayor of Mesa, Arizona, today joined the Fix the Debt Campaign’s steering committee. He becomes the third current officeholder to join the campaign.

In addition to running the 38th largest city in the country, he is also incoming president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more.

Mayor Smith has brought his experience as a CEO, accountant and attorney to his work as mayor, leading a major restructuring of city government to make it more efficient and effective while promoting higher education and economic development. He has also been an innovator in using cutting edge technology to increase civic engagement.

His experience will benefit the Fix the Debt movement. As Mayor Smith said in a statement,

Mayors know what it’s like to face a ‘fiscal cliff’ as they faced their own financial crisis years ago. Mayors from both parties demonstrated how it is possible to balance budgets, reduce debts, while creating economic growth that adds jobs. They made the tough decisions, and our cities are both stronger financially and ready to take advantage of opportunities for growth. Washington can, and should, do the same to fix our nation’s financial challenges.

The Republican joins Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles and Independent Michael Bloomberg of New York City as sitting mayors on the steering committee, highlighting the broad support for the non-partisan effort.