It was an incredible honor to receive a personal invite from the The White House to attend the White House State Leadership Conference this past Tuesday, June 17 from 9 AM – 1:30 PM. This was an opportunity for Michigan elected officials to hear about the White House’s priorities and also to converse with White House leadership about the issues affecting our state.
After passing through security, fellow Ottawa County Commissioners Moss, Rhodea, Wenzel and I, alongside about 40+ other elected officials from Michigan, found our way to the stately conference room held at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Throughout the Leadership Conference, we had an opportunity to hear from and share/ask questions from various leaders working within:
* the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
* Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with Health and Human Services
* Secretary Turner with Housing and Urban Development
* Secretary McMahon with the Department of Education
* Eric Bledsoe, Maxim Lott and Scott Centurion with the Domestic Policy Council
* Secretary Howard Lutnick with the Department of Commerce.
This time was invaluable as not only did we hear details about President Trump’s direction for our country, but the White House Leadership team desired to field questions and gain insights from the leaders present in the room about issues affecting our state.The President’s direction of White House staff to take action and not just talk about or around topics provides me with hope that these intentional points of connection will bear fruit for our county and state.
As Secretary Scott Turner stated, “Principle is important. Government negligence is a black hole and is the status quo. Don’t settle for the status quo. Represent your people. Don’t do business as usual. Rural communities deserve our attention. Put families on a new trajectory. Create generational wealth. Pull each other up and be willing to change position if need be. Have grit and faith…dream again!”
*More details to come in my next posts covering the White House Leadership Conference
