Anthony Foxx – Charlotte Mayor

Speaking above the hiss of espresso machines at a Starbucks near the Hilton, Foxx says he prefers to see himself as bringing others together on issues, even though he strongly argues his own points.
“I’d like to think I was able to get some good things done,” he says. “The role of mayor is much different. As a council member what I saw was a lot of missed opportunities to engage the community in important discussions about our future – something as specific as the 2006 vote on our budget that allowed us to make substantially more police hires – I didn’t think the City Council dialogue about that was as honest as it should have been.”

Foxx apologizes for seemingly talking in code and tries again.

“I’m … confident that in the next couple of years there are going to be positions I take that may be in the variance of the (largely Democratic) council in place now. But what will happen is that dialogue will be honest dialogue and not based on a power struggle. It’ll be based on the issue of the moment; I think we owe that to the people of Charlotte.”

Foxx is willing to give a lot to residents and proved it during his campaign, according to numerous volunteers, who say the mayor lived on Diet Coke and water and dropped a good 30 pounds while darting from events to neighborhoods to speaking engagements.

The same way Foxx tagged along with his grandfather to political events as a child, his children, Hillary, 5, and Zachary, 3, were often in tow on his campaign trail. In fact, the mayor’s insistence on dropping off the kids in the morning and picking them up every afternoon sometimes caused staffers to grumble because they felt the time could have been used for campaign appearances or interviews.
But being a father, and husband to wife Samara, always comes first, which is among the many reasons volunteers and supporters respect him, they say.

“Anthony is to public service what Michael Jordan is to basketball,” said Jill Santuccio, his press secretary. “There is just a natural gift that he has. I don’t think you can teach the stuff that’s in his soul, the fabric of who he is.”

Foxx defeated Lassiter with 51.5% percent of the vote, ending an arduous campaign that drew hundreds of volunteers and comparisons to Barrack Obama’s presidential victory in 2008.

In fact, Foxx has surrounded himself with some of the president’s own men. His campaign manager, Bruce Clark, a D.C. insider, was deputy regional field director of Obama for America. Kevin Monroe – a close adviser – ran both of Foxx’s City Council campaigns. He served as the state political director for Obama ’08 before climbing aboard the Foxx ’09 train.

The campaign’s success caught enough buzz that others are seeking advice.

Ambling up a staircase to the Hilton’s second floor, Alvin Brown stops when he sees Foxx on his descent back to the lobby. He offers a hearty handshake and asks whether the mayor received his texts and whether he could squeeze Brown in during his D.C. visit.

Brown, the former White House senior adviser for urban policy under President Clinton, plans to enter the 2011 race for mayor of Jacksonville, Fla. He said he hopes to gain insight from Foxx’s campaign successes on the advice of U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, a Charlotte Democrat and confidant of Foxx’s. Foxx was Watt’s campaign manager in 2004. Foxx also relies on insight from numerous others, including famous jazz artist Wynton Marsalis.

Marsalis couldn’t break free from writing a composition for the Berlin Philharmonic to be interviewed for this story. But he is a friend to Foxx – performing at a fundraiser concert during one of his council campaigns and always offering a unique perspective.

“I feel like it’s important to have a variety of people around you who bring different perspectives,” Foxx says. “An artist just opens your mind at different ways of looking at things.”

Today, many times, though, he still relies on the advice of his grandfather.

“I can’t say enough about how razor sharp his antenna was, and having had the benefit of growing up in his household and having many, many, many conversations into the wee hours of the morning about various things political – there’s a lot I still draw just from that,” he says.

Foxx pauses a moment to take a call from a city lobbyist as he pulls a crumpled sheet with 13 bullet items highlighting accomplishments in his first 30 days. He points for me to read as he talks. Among them: 2,200 jobs announced; bidding for Charlotte to host the 2012 Democratic National Convention; and working with state leaders to accelerate the completion of the Interstate-485 project.

He’s in a rush now to make his afternoon meetings so we wrap up but not before quickly discussing perhaps his biggest accomplishment: becoming Charlotte’s youngest and second African-American mayor.

“My personal background, my racial background is something that is certainly part of who I am, but it isn’t the only thing that I am,” he says. “I think maybe when I’m much older and I’m looking back, the historical significance from the standpoint of being an African-American mayor in Charlotte may be something I reflect on, but right now there are too many things in front of me to deal with.”

~Victoria Cherrie