Mayors think they may have a partner in populist Trump

Mayor Paula Zelenko is one of more than 300 mayors from across the country who descended on Washington this week to attend the United States Conference of Mayors.

The Burton Michigan Democrat said she was inspired to attend the conference for the first time for one reason; the incoming administration of Donald J. Trump.

"I wanted to see where he was standing on all of the issues that affect all of our cities, our mayor's and our communities. We are all in this together; let's see how we can all make it work," she said.

Zelenko said her biggest issues in the city that borders Flint, Michigan is infrastructure funding, "Especially water and sewer lines," she said. But she also pointed to pensions and other legacy issues, and the scourge of most of America, heroin.

With a population of 30,000, Burton adjoins Flint, but she dealt with her corroded underground iron and ductile iron pipes that were rapidly decaying and constantly leaking before the dramatic crisis in Flint became a national story.