WASHINGTON - Steering clear of a messy labor dispute, the White House on
Friday said Vice President Joe Biden and other members of President
Barack Obama's Cabinet have scrapped plans to attend a national mayors'
conference in Rhode Island rather than cross a picket line of local
firefighters.

In a statement to The Associated Press, presidential spokesman Robert
Gibbs said the Obama administration will redouble its efforts to work
with the nation's mayors in other ways. That includes a fresh invitation
for the mayors to come to the White House.

But for now, the list of premier guests at the U.S. Conference of Mayors
in Providence, R.I., next week just got a lot shorter.

Even as the White House was announcing its decision, the mayoral group's
Web site promoted that its confirmed guests included Biden, senior Obama
adviser Valerie Jarrett, Attorney General Eric Holder, Commerce
Secretary Gary Locke, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and other
administration officials.

None of them now plan to attend.

"Unfortunately, because of circumstances surrounding the conference,
administration officials will not be participating in this year's
meeting," Gibbs said.

Year-long conflict

Those circumstances are a years-long conflict between the Providence
mayor, David Cicilline, and local firefighters over contract matters.
Cicilline is the host of the conference in his home city, and the
firefighters, backed by the International Association of Fire Fighters,
plan to stage a picket line at the event.

"While this administration is taking no position on the circumstances of
the dispute itself, we have always respected picket lines, and
administration officials will not cross this one," Gibbs said.

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