Barrow blasts Bing over budget maneuvers

Tom Barrow, the longtime Detroit political activist challenging Dave Bing in the November mayoral election, came out swinging after Bing put off a plan to lay off 113 bus drivers and cut back Saturday and Sunday routes by using federal stimulus money to pay their salaries for the next few weeks.

“You don’t just find $400,000 at the last second,” said Barrow. “Detroiters need the busses to keep their jobs and to get around. If you can now find money to keep people on the payroll, then face the people and tell them the truth and work with the unions honestly. Open up the books and find a solution together.”

He was particularly hard on Charles Beckham and Norm White, longtime Detroit city managers who have been the public face of Bing much of the time over the last few months.

“Mayor Bing and his two cronies blinked in their attempt to bust up the unions,” Barrow wrote in his press release. “They continue to falsely blame the workers who are not the problem. It’s the reliance on White and Beckham, both of whom created the problem. Detroit needs a real plan and Bing refuses to acknowledge that he has one or even face the people to explain. Instead, he hides and sends out surrogates to do his dirty work. hey and he must go if Detroit is to solve its fiscal problems.”