WASHINGTON — Columbia, S.C. Mayor Steve Benjamin, new chair of Municipal Bonds for America, talked about the importance of tax-exempt bonds Tuesday in a meeting between White House officials and members of the National Conference of Black Mayors.
Benjamin, who is also special counsel at the law firm of Parker Poe, said the meeting was not focused on munis, but that he brought them up.
Benjamin was elected earlier this month by the MBFA executive committee. He succeeds Marc Jahr, the recently departed president of the New York City Housing Development Corporation.
MBFA is a nonpartisan coalition of state and local government officials and senior leadership at broker dealers whose goal is to protect and promote tax-exempt municipal bonds. The group was created in October 2012 in response to proposals that would have curbed or eliminated the tax exemption.
MBFA has conducted lunch-and-learn events with congressional staff members and met with congressional leadership to educate them about the tax exemption. The group plans to engage in the same types of activities this year, Benjamin said in a brief interview Tuesday.
Benjamin describes himself as an advocate for "preserving this 100-year-old partnership" between the federal government, state and local governments and the capital markets.
"This relationship is so important to the way we build our infrastructure," he said.
Benjamin became mayor of South Carolina's capital city in 2010.
Susan Collet — senior vice president of government relations for the Bond Dealers of America, which founded MBFA — praised Benjamin for his passion for preserving the tax exemption for munis.
"He is a local elected official who has been very invested in this issue," she said.
