cicilline

PROVIDENCE — The U.S. Conference of Mayors said Saturday that it will proceed with its annual meeting here next weekend even though the group is disappointed that Vice President Joseph Biden and other high-ranking Obama administration officials will not attend.

On Friday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the federal officials, out of respect for the Providence firefighters’ protest, will not cross their picket line.

The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 799 is locked in a contract dispute with Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline.

But the conference, in a news release, said the nation’s recession is too severe to cancel or postpone the meeting.

The conference also said that despite the absence of Obama representatives, it remains committed to its “partnership” with the White House in its efforts to help lift American cities out of the economic crises many of them are experiencing.

Mayors, the conference said, are being forced to lay off municipal employees, reduce benefits and salaries and take other “painful measures” to balance budgets and avoid bankruptcy.

Paul A. Doughty, president of Local 799, said on Friday that the Obama administration asked if the union would call off its pickets if Cicilline stayed away from the meeting. According to Doughty, the local agreed to do that.

In an interview Saturday, Cicilline denied that any such compromise had been offered.

“No suggestion was made by the Obama administration or anyone else that I stay away,” the mayor said.

Cicilline, who is hosting the conference’s first-ever meeting in Providence, said on Friday that he, too, is disappointed that the vice president and Obama officials decided not to cross the picket line.

Providence police union officials have said they also will picket the conference to protest a separate dispute with Cicilline.

Cicilline agreed with the conference about the necessity for moving forward with the meeting which, he said, would help “mayors and cities with this economic crisis –– and do it in a way that protects local taxpayers.”

While he respects the work of firefighters, the mayor said, the union’s contract demands are “unreasonable, unsustainable and unaffordable to the taxpayers of the city.”

On Saturday, Cicilline reiterated that he would not cave in to the local’s leaders who were holding Providence hostage.

Also on Friday, Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said the administration takes no position on Providence’s labor disagreements, but that it has “always respected picket lines and administration officials will not cross this one.”

Besides Biden, other Obama officials who had planned to attend the conference included Senior White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis and Attorney General Eric Holder.

The decision seems to have had little effect on other Rhode Island politicians, some of whom were not going to attend the meeting anyway. Sen. Jack Reed said on Saturday that he had intended to be in Washington to begin debate on national health-care reform.

Spokespeople for Reps. James Langevin and Patrick Kennedy said the congressmen had not planned on attending, either.

When asked if Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse would attend, spokeswoman Alex Swartsel issued this statement: “Sen. Whitehouse hopes and expects that the union and Mayor Cicilline can come to an agreement so that the official events of the conference are not picketed; this conference and the people and business it brings to Rhode Island will have too positive an impact on the state and on many other union workers. Sen. Whitehouse’s schedule has not yet been determined but if he is not in Washington at the Senate he very much wants to be able to attend.”

Cranston Mayor Allan Fung said he had not planned on going to the conference. Warwick Mayor Scott Avedesian said he might drop by, depending on his schedule during a busy time of Warwick school commencements. If he did go, he said, it would be without opposition from Warwick police and firefighters.

“I have had a conversation with our FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) and our firefighters union and they have made it clear they are not targeting any specific mayors,” Avedesian said on Saturday.

North Providence Mayor Charles A. Lombardi said he intends to participate in the conference by attending whatever event he thinks will offer the most helpful information for dealing with the town’s financial crisis.

He said he’s not sure if it would be right to boycott the conference and run the risk of missing out on information that could be valuable to the people of North Providence.

Lombardi, who has had his own clashes with the North Providence firefighters union, expressed some disappointment about the effect that the union picket line has had on the conference.

But he did not directly criticize members of the Obama administration.

“I can’t answer for them,” Lombardi said. “I look at this as a bright light for the State of Rhode Island and not just the City of Providence. I’m disappointed people have chosen not to visit the State of Rhode Island because of some contractual issue.”

He is more open to criticism of the union picket activities, noting that the event is so important for the state.

“To dampen this important event, I don’t know if that’s right,” he said.

“I look at the big picture,” he said. “I would like to think that the unions would be proud to have this event hosted by the City of Providence .… ”

The meeting is expected to draw some 1,200 people to Providence, including about 180 mayors and their families.

With reports from staff writer Mark Reynolds.

gwmiller@projo.com