Mulling gubernatorial run, Bernero says Granholm’s legacy is Cherry’s ‘cross to bear’

LANSING — The Democratic mayor of Michigan’s capital city has confirmed he is “seriously considering” a run for the state’s top job. Virgil Bernero’s reasoning?

He said in an interview with Michigan Messenger on Monday that since news broke this weekend that he had been approached by the Obama administration to run for governor, but had declined, he had received phone calls and emails from people all over the state encouraging him to run.

In addition, Bernero said favorable polling numbers have made a potential run more enticing.

“The polling shows [Lt. Gov. John Cherry] can’t win, and [Michigan House Speaker Andy] Dillon is not a viable alternative for Democrats,” Bernero said. “The current leadership is weak, and that’s the cross John Cherry must bear,” he said, referring to Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm. “People are hungry for change.”

Bernero, a former state senator, state representative and Ingham County commissioner, is fresh off a mayoral re-election victory where he touted his blue collar roots, growing up in Pontiac where his father worked for General Motors.

He said if he does make a gubernatorial run official, it is because Michigan has lost its “cutting edge.”

“I feel like I have seen that diminish in my lifetime,” he said, referring to how Michigan was consistently a leader in innovation. “There doesn’t seem to be an urgency at the capitol. Seem oblivious to that. I don’t think our state motto should be ‘how low can you go?’”

He also said the latest round of budget cuts, which hit state revenue sharing and left Lansing city officials with a $3 million budget hole, are a major issue for him. It called the consistent partisan battles at the Capitol an “unending stream of bull,” and said there was a distinct “lack of leadership.”

“I’m pretty frustrated,” he said. “I’m left having to say can I do more for my city across the street?”

But Bernero’s unsuccessful mayoral opponent, at-large Lansing City Council member Carol Wood, said in an interview she is disappointed with the mayor’s talk about next year’s governor’s race.

“He was repeatedly asked about whether he planned to serve out his four-year term if elected, and he said ‘yes.’ He said he loved being mayor,” Wood said. “This is another example of his untruthfulness. It’s par for the course. Less than a month from the election and he’s already going back on promises.”

Bernero said he plans to make a final decision sometime after the first of the year.