Detroit's skyline at night (photo: Sagittariuss via Flickr.com)
With Tuesday’s Detroit mayoral primary less than a week away, voters will choose among 15 candidates to run the city for the remaining eight months of Kwame Kilpatrick’s term. But even the winner can’t get too comfortable, as campaigning will immediately start again for an Aug. 4 primary and the Nov. 3 general election to fill the seat for a full term.
This year the ballot is crowded with some familiar faces in Detroit politics such as Freman Hendrix and Sharon McPhail, as well as virtually unknown candidates like Jeroll Sanders and Duane Montgomery. Since next week’s vote is more or less a practice round for the round of elections later in the year, just who is in the running? What follows is Michigan Messenger’s candidate-by-candidate assessment.
DUANE MONTGOMERY, Consultant
HIS PLAN: Leverage city revenue from a casino tax plan that would give Detroit an extra $250 million each year; reassign city workers so they have an option to become trained as armed “first responders” to reduce response time; give away abandoned lots and houses to residents who need homes and land for $1; reduce city bureaucracy by making cuts in the law and the general services departments; create a city-owned hotel, shopping and casino complex with money raised from a casino tax; champion a regional effort to consolidate services in the tri-county area to reduce costs; take over the Detroit Public Schools.
THE GOOD: He pledges to work with neighborhood organizations and communities to keep streets plowed and increase bulk trash pickup and wants to make City Hall more transparent. If his plan works, he could balance the budget. Montgomery is the only candidate who promised not to renew the city’s contract with the Detroit trash incinerator.
THE BAD: He wants to arm city workers, such as bus drivers, and tax casinos, which may cause them to go bankrupt or leave Detroit. His Web site also discloses a number of past indiscretions, including two “love children,” concealed weapons permit violations and an assault charge.
WARREN EVANS, Wayne County Sheriff
HIS PLAN: Make public safety the city’s top priority; leverage banks holding city money for entrepreneurial loans; push a moratorium on foreclosures.Use Neighborhood Stabilization funds to raze houses near schools and in “stable” neighborhoods to stop the spread of blight; build on health care and research opportunities in Detroit; keep the Detroit trash incinerator in operation unless the people decide it is hazardous by a public vote.
THE GOOD: Evans is an advocate of neighborhood development and small businesses. He halted all foreclosure sales in Wayne County this month, an unprecedented move by any county sheriff, and says that he understands how to balance big budgets and how to fight crime.
THE BAD: Evans focuses so heavily on public safety that at times it overshadows his other goals. Evans is also getting criticism for halting foreclosures as a political stunt.
COLEMAN YOUNG II, State Representative
HIS PLAN: Create union-friendly jobs; give city contracts to Detroit businesses and residents only; retain city assets, including the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel; open a mortgage insurance company to help stop foreclosures; tap federal stimulus money to create jobs and revenue for the city; create green jobs to provide economic opportunity; is a fierce advocate of organized labor; wants to follow zero-based budgeting policy; use cash incentive for kids to perform better in school; secure federal funds to create a “smart grid” electric delivery system; push for light-rail construction; believes the fate of the trash incinerator needs “great study and input from the people.”
THE GOOD: Young is a friend of Detroit neighborhoods and organized labor. His main focus is creating jobs and using jobs to deter crime instead of putting more people in jail.
THE BAD: At 26, Young is, well, young. The extent of his political experience is two terms as a state representative representing the 4th District. Young is still working on a bachelor’s degree and was working as a manager of a Subway sandwich shop when he was elected to the State House.
REV. NICK HOOD III, Former City Council Member
HIS PLAN: Use federal block grant funds to improve after-school programs for children; fight small groups of criminals in neighborhoods; mandate a 10-percent pay cut for city workers and a four-day work week; slash the council and mayor’s budgets by one-third; hire 5,000 new police officers; give vacant land to people who have a clear intent to redevelop properties in neighborhoods; won’t shut down the Detroit incinerator immediately but will wait for more input on what to do.
THE GOOD: Hood says he will work to better the quality of life in Detroit by attracting restaurants and rehabbing decaying recreational centers. He supports a city urban farming initiative and has experience in Detroit city government.
THE BAD: Hood is a big advocate of charter schools, something that could be a threat to the Detroit Public Schools, considering the system’s fragile financial climate. If elected, he said he would call for a four-day workweek and a 10-percent decrease in pay, which would create discontent with organized labor.
D. ETTA WILCOXON, Publisher, Renaissance Observer
HER PLAN: Use the “underutilized” Detroit River to ship cars, windmills and green technology around the world; borrow $5 billion from the city’s retirement system to balance the city’s budget; build plants to assemble lithium ion batteries, metal blades and poles for wind farms; build a Detroit theme park on vacant lots.
THE GOOD: Wilcoxon is very articulate and has big ideas and is a strong advocate of green technology. She aims to foster new growth in the city and is calling for a three-year moratorium on all foreclosures in Michigan.
THE BAD: Her plans are big, but it’s unclear if they would be under her control as mayor. She focuses on borrowing from a retirement system that is already unstable and could face trouble.
FREMAN HENDRIX, Former Deputy Mayor, Mayoral Chief of Staff
HIS PLAN: Create an ethics ordinance in the city and create a corruption task force to “weed out corruption and fraud”; issue an executive order that devalues “playing politics”; put more police officers on the street and improve the Detroit Public Schools by boosting police presence; demolish houses and plow snow near schools; keep schools open from 3:30 p.m.-8 p.m. by offering recreational programs; offer tax abatements, payroll tax abatements, small business tax abatements, free land and free buildings to encourage people and businesses to move back to Detroit neighborhoods; create a citywide urban farming initiative; would use landfill options, recycling programs as well as the incinerator.
THE GOOD: Hendrix has the most political savvy of the group and has experience in the mayor’s office. He offers specifics and understands what would be under his jurisdiction as mayor.
THE BAD: Between elections, Hendrix has spent much of his time in his Florida. During the Archer administration, he worked to sell city assets and was viewed as someone who pandered to Detroit’s suburbs.
KENNETH COCKREL JR., Interim Mayor, Former City Council President
HIS PLAN: Fight crime with tactical police deployment, open more mini stations; use Office of Energy and sustainability to attract a diverse corps of green industry; root out wasteful contracts; impose 10-percent pay cuts for all city workers, merge the DDOT and SMART bus systems; use part of the $47 million neighborhood stabilization fund to raze abandoned houses, rehabilitate foreclosed homes and build new housing. Cockrel said that as the current mayor, he could not comment use of the Detroit trash incinerator because he is currently negotiating options for the facility.
THE GOOD: Cockrel is a levelheaded politician who has good ideas about how to make the city better. He is green-friendly and has reasonable goals to fight crime; some of his appointees, including financial adviser Joe Harris and Deputy Mayor Saul Green, are very well respected.
THE BAD: Cockrel has little executive experience and has been slow to make any major decisions as mayor. He failed to meet his first campaign promise to balance the budget and submit it to the state on time; his pay-cut proposal is getting heat from unions. He has not hesitated to sell city assets such as Cobo Hall and he introduced a proposal to sell the Macomb County water interceptor.
DAVID BING, CEO, Bing Group
HIS PLAN: Use his business connections and experience to attract and promote entrepreneurship; develop alternative energy sources and green technologies; make buildings more energy-efficient, promote health care and create nursing jobs and training for Detroiters; make public safety the highest budget priority; make the police chief pay special attention to schools; create recreation programs for the hours after school; eliminate bus fare for seniors and the physically challenged; stop use of the Detroit trash incinerator.
THE GOOD: Bing is a CEO of an auto supplier in Detroit and has a good idea of how to run a successful business. He has great business connections and understands what attracts entrepreneurs, something the city sorely needs.
THE BAD: Bing moved to Detroit only last month, living previously in Farmington. Bing has been pegged by many as anti-union, as he fought unionizing his 500 workers and still does not have a union shop in his company, Bing Group. Bing is a millionaire and could be out of touch with the every day hardships that plague many Detroiters.
SHARON McPHAIL, Former City Council Member, Former Mayoral General Counsel
HER PLAN: Create a Detroit “children’s fund” to allow Detroit Public School graduates to attend in-state universities for free; retain city residents by reinstating residency requirements for city workers; open more career centers; hold city middle managers to higher accountability; create teacher incentives for outstanding performance; make the city more resident-friendly; stabilize tax policy; create a regional fire protection program; make police and firefighters exempt from layoffs; work toward building a regional transit system instead of just a citywide bus system; retain all city assets; construct bike lanes on all main roads and fine motorists for driving on them. Would work to eliminate the Detroit trash incinerator but not immediately.
THE GOOD: McPhail is articulate and has an outstanding record of public service. She has a hands-on, no-nonsense approach to business, is a fierce advocate of public education and residency requirements, understands the legal processes it would take accomplish her goals.
THE BAD: McPhail has a hot temper. Once she told a voter to “shut the hell up.” She refused to debate with her competitors on television, she was Kwame Kilpatrick’s general counsel and defended him throughout the text-message scandal; she has little executive experience in balancing large budgets.
HIS PLAN: Use author George L. Kelling’s “Broken Windows” theory to reduce blight and crime in Detroit; impose 10-percent cuts for all city workers to help fill the budget gap; push for a regional mass transit system that links the Metro Detroit area with trolley and light rail lines; move people out of declining neighborhoods to consolidate population; supports keeping city assets; wants make sure there are more police officers out on the streets; plans to keep recreation centers open during after school hours; proposes an anti-litter policy that would force offenders clean up litter; will keep the Detroit trash incinerator operational until other options for the facility are clear.
THE GOOD: Holt is perhaps the biggest advocate in the group for public transit. He also understands how important green technology is to Detroit’s economic future.
THE BAD: His background in filmmaking and teaching does not exactly translate to an executive role, and he has offered few specifics in debates other than his ideas for expanded transit and the “Broken Windows” theory. Compared to other candidates, Holt hasn’t attended many community debates.
JEROLL SANDERS, Business Consultant
HER PLAN: Deter crime by having a zero-tolerance crime policy and equipping police cars with global positioning systems to make sure officers are on the job; reduce the number of executive appointees; redesign the law department to minimize settlements and lost cases that costs the city millions each year; find out how many city workers are non-residents; terminate contracts for convenience; initiate a tax rollback plan for residents; create a National Green Technology Institute that educates citizens on green technologies and prepares them for work; hold public meetings to discuss the future of the incinerator before making any decisions.
THE GOOD: Sanders is a business=turnaround consultant with some executive experience. She and understands how to eliminate waste from budgets. She has big ideas on how to fight crime and create green jobs; she would ease the tax burden of residents. Sanders can effectively communicate her ideas and positions.
THE BAD: Sanders has ambitious goals but lacks a firm grasp of what she would be able to control as mayor. Many of her plans are national in focus.
DONALD BRADLEY, Medical Doctor
HIS PLAN: Repair street lights and halt water shut-offs; build trust in Detroit’s city leadership by showing fast results; shut down the Detroit trash incinerator if residents call for its operations to cease.
THE GOOD: Bradley is a very kind, likable fellow with the best intentions for the city, saying he wants results instead of rhetoric.
THE BAD: Bradley is a medical doctor and lacks executive experience. During the mayoral debates, he hasn’t been able to clearly communicate his ideas and has not given enough specifics. He has shown unease giving public remarks, and while he may have saved many lives as a doctor, he doesn’t seem ready for the daunting job of mayor of Detroit.
STANLEY CHRISTMAS, Security Guard, Community Activist
HIS PLAN: Get federal money to raze each of the city’s 80,000 abandoned buildings; eliminate Detroit’s $300 trash pickup fee and restore monthly bulk pickup; wants to make graduation from high school mandatory; build an amusement park on the Detroit river; refinance bonds; eliminate wasteful departments; cut “nonessential” cars from the city fleet; create a “traffic czar” to collect overdue tickets; advocate regional public transit; convert city buses to run on batteries; reduce the city workforce, insurance and pensions; shut down the Detroit incinerator.
THE GOOD: As a longtime community activist, Christmas knows what’s on the minds of Detroiters; he says he would work hard to eliminate blight and has the best interest of Detroit’s residents at heart. He is in touch with the community and has a good sense of humor.
THE BAD: As a security guard, Christmas has had little executive experience and lacks political savvy; he has been weak at debates and doesn’t seem ready to lead a city in crisis.
Editor’s Note: Two mayoral candidates, Brenda Sanders and Frances Culver, have not participated in public debates and their campaigns could not be reached for comment.
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