Washington, D.C. welcomes county officials in March

• Visit the NACo website for more information and/or to register.
• Workshop descriptions (PDF)

N.C. counties will caucus, visit with congressional delegation during Legislative Conference

County officials from across the country will convene in the nation’s capital March 3-7 for the National Association of Counties’ annual Legislative Conference. The conference is being held at the Washington Hilton.

The “advance” registration rate of $515 is in effect from Jan. 21 through March 2. The on-site registration fee is $625.

The NCACC has scheduled three events specifically for North Carolina attendees. The N.C. Caucus will be held on Monday, March 5, from 4 – 5:30 p.m., and will be immediately followed by a North Carolina reception until 6:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, March 7, the Association will sponsor its annual Congressional Breakfast from 8 – 9:30 a.m. at the Capitol Hill Club. All 13 United States representatives from North Carolina, as well as Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan, have been invited to attend and speak. Attendees must register separately for the breakfast through the NCACC; a link to registration will be available here when available.

In addition to the NCACC-sponsored events, county officials should note:

• A NACo Southern Region meeting will be held on Sunday, March 4, from 4 – 5 p.m.
• The North Carolina Association of Black County Officials will meet on Sunday, March 4, from 5 – 6 p.m.
• Rep. Mike McIntyre will host a reception for county officials residing in the 7th Congressional District from 4:30 – 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6.

Steering committee, subcommittee and affiliate meetings make up the bulk of the schedule on March 3-4. The conference gets going in earnest on Monday, March 5, with two blocks of workshops in te morning before the Opening General Session.

The featured conference speakers are Tucker Carlson and Eleanor Clift, two “Inside the Beltway” experts who will provide attendees with their expertise and their political perspective to analyze what lessons President Obama and the newly empowered Republicans have learned and how both sides are gearing up for the 2012 presidential election.

Carlson is a veteran journalist and political commentator currently working for the Fox News Channel. He is also the editor-in-chief of TheDailyCaller.com, a news and opinion site. Carlson joined Fox from MSNBC, where he hosted several nightly programs. Previously he was the co-host of Crossfire on CNN, where he was the youngest anchor in the history of that network. During the same period, Carlson also hosted a weekly public affairs program on PBS.

A longtime writer, Carlson has reported from around the world, including dispatches from Iraq, Pakistan, Lebanon and Vietnam. He has been a columnist for New York magazine and Reader’s Digest, and currently writes for Esquire and The New York Times Magazine.

Clift is a contributor for Newsweek and the Daily Beast website. She writes on the Washington power structure, the influence of women in politics and other issues. She is currently assigned to follow the jockeying over policy and politics in a divided Congress where the two parties share power and where President Obama faces major opposition.

Clift is a regular panelist on the syndicated talk show, The McLaughlin Group. She appeared as herself in several movies, including Dave, Independence Day, Murder at 1600, Rising Sun and the CBS television series Murphy Brown.

For more information or to register for the conference, visit www.naco.org. Direct questions to the NACo Meetings Call Center at (202) 942-4292 or email nacomeetings@naco.org.