This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 20, 2011 - WASHINGTON - When U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., hosted two dozen Illinois mayors for an informal luncheon in his Capitol office Wednesday, the guest list had a notable Missouri exception: St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.
"He always invites me because we work on a lot of things together," said Slay, who was in town for the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual winter meeting and to talk with legislators about St. Louis priorities on Capitol Hill.
The Slay-Durbin connection goes a bit deeper than policy, as the two Catholic high school graduates from the St. Louis region have become friends in the decade since Durbin first met Slay -- shortly after his inauguration as mayor in 2001.
Slay "told me how he'd gone to Quincy College on a soccer scholarship and it turns out that we went to high schools that were in the same Catholic league," said Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate. While Durbin attended Assumption High School in East St. Louis, Slay went to St. Mary's High School in south St. Louis. The senator has met with Slay many times, even visiting the bingo hall and community center of Slay's family parish in south St. Louis.
"We have a lot of things in common, so we've become friends. We've worked together on a lot of different issues that affect both sides of the river," Durbin told the Beacon.
"I'm from East St. Louis, so I've always viewed the Metro East area as truly a bi-state region."
Among the projects that the mayor and senator have discussed over the years are the Metro Link light rail system, the region's airports and -- most recently -- the proposal to extend and improve the Gateway Arch grounds, including a new park planned for the East St. Louis riverfront.
Slay told the Beacon that he planned to discuss the Arch grounds project -- and potential federal funding for parts of it -- with Durbin and other members of Congress from the St. Louis region this week, in advance of a major announcement about the next steps of the project later this month.
"It's going to be a mixture" of funding for the Arch project, Slay said. "There will be a lot of private money. And we'll try to get some federal funding through various sources."
While Durbin and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., have expressed concerns about getting funding for the Arch project in this year's congressional appropriations bills, Durbin told the Beacon, "I'll help in any way I can. I think the Arch is a major attraction -- a piece of the identity of the Midwest."
At the reception, Durbin honored Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, for his work in Chicago and as an advisor to many other mayors. The senator told the story of how Daley had provided advice to Slay and many other mayors over the years.
"The first time I met Mayor Slay of St. Louis, he was brand new in office and we talked about cities," Durbin told the mayors. "I said, 'I've got to get you up to Chicago to meet Rich Daley. Every mayor and every city can learn from what he's done.'"
While Daley and Slay are friendly -- bantering during the lunch session in Durbin's office -- they might not see eye to eye on every issue. For example, one of Slay's priorities on Capitol Hill was "to talk about China Hub" project, which would involve establishing St. Louis as a major hub for Chinese cargo trade with the Midwest.
While St. Louis has high hopes of negotiating such a cargo route this year, Chicago is also putting on a full court press to deepen its business relations with China. In fact, Daley -- the brother of the new White House chief of staff, William Daley -- is hosting Chinese President Hu Jintao today in Chicago, including a dinner and gala this evening.
At Durbin's luncheon, though, the only rivalry in the open had to do with pro football. Pointing out the Chicago Bears football helmet on Durbin's coffee table, Daley looked around the room and quipped, "We're all for the Bears here, right?" -- a reference to this weekend's National Football League championship game between the Bears and the Green Bay Packers.
Slay, a St. Louis Rams fan, demurred with a smile, saying: "Only because the Rams are out of the running."