WASHINGTON -- Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed testified before the U.S. House of Representatives today on transportation policy, but the question-and-answer session lingered on his relationship with Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.
Reed opted for a superhero analogy to describe how he acknowledges he is the junior partner here: "I understand that he’s Batman and I’m Robin, but I do believe that mayors have to have a voice. I don’t have it confused."
Pitching them as the Dynamic Duo would marginalize state Sen. Jason Carter in his attempt to unseat Deal, and Reed's chilly endorsement of Carter last week suggests the mayor isn't out to do his fellow Democrat any favors.
Reed acknowledged that he would "get in trouble" for being publicly kind to Deal, but then he went on to sell their pairing as a national model that Congress should promote. At length:
"So I think that Governor Deal and my's relationship has been talked about across the country because we're kind of unusual. But to the extent that you have bipartisan solutions on regional issues and you hold those up as examples and reward folks for engaging in that behavior I think that you help America. The state of Georgia got turned down for TIFIA four times. When the governor and I both supported the application we got a $270 million grant.
"And I think that is -- I remember when we walked into [then-Transportation Secretary] Ray LaHood's office, he didn't understand why we were there together. What's this mayor of Atlanta and this governor of Georgia, who had been a member of Congress for 20 years, walk into his office for? When we have examples like that I think that committees like yours with all of your influence should hold them up and look at what we worked on and what we got done and I think the country can learn from that.
"Because, you know, I served in the legislature for a long time. When folks come to see you, if they're really smart, when they start opening their mouths, they make sure they don't tell you anything that's going to get you beat. Folks used to [say], 'Don't come to me with something that's going to get me beat.' So you have to tell them about examples where other people have done this and lived to tell the tale. And I think that that helps the country."
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