Nine North Carolina mayors made their case to Barack Obama's top staffers today.

As part of a group of several hundred mayors at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, the mayors heard from the president-elect's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and adviser Valerie Jarrett and transition team adviser David Axelrod.

The group is arguing for more of the federal stimulus package to be spent on local infrastructure, such as schools, water and sewer lines and even municipal Internet access.

Gastonia Mayor Jennie Stultz said that towns and cities would be more accountable for the spending, an argument she said seemed to play well with Obama's team.

"I don't think they're going to hand out a blank check," she said. "I think you've got to show them how you're going to spend it."

The North Carolina mayors will meet with U.S. Sens. Kay Hagan and Richard Burr Monday.

Ten North Carolina mayors are going to Washington this weekend.

The group will join over 250 mayors from across the country to call for local help in the upcoming Congressional stimulus package.

Expected to attend are Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the former GOP gubernatorial candidate; Durham Mayor Bill Bell; Fayetteville Mayor Tony Chavonne; Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines; Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy; and the mayors of Asheville, Concord, Gastonia, Salisbury and Waxhaw.

They will be attending the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The conference will release a report this weekend on projected job losses in metropolitan areas, a particular concern for McCrory, who founded the N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition to concentrate on urban issues.

Pat McCrory became head of a group of Republican mayors in 2000.

According to a Dec. 13 article in the Charlotte Observer that year, the Charlotte mayor won a yearlong term as president of Republican Mayors and Local Officials:

RMLO executive board members this fall asked McCrory, who faced no competition, to run for president though he hadn't been particularly active in the group, which pushes Republican solutions to municipal problems. He has earned a reputation among mayors, however, particularly as chair of the Energy and Environment Committee for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

He said that he would spend a day or two each month in Washington, arguing for Republican solutions to municipal issues on behalf of the 750-member group. In particular, he said he would press for local control and against unfunded mandates.

"It gives me access to both the executive and the congressional branch. It helps open doors, and any time you open doors you help Charlotte," he said. "If I meet with (Senate Majority Leader) Trent Lott, Charlotte's request will be in the room too."

McCrory spoke on the group's behalf at the 2004 Republican National Convention. His speech praising President Bush is being cited in a new TV ad by Democrat Beverly Perdue.