Category: Media
Posted by David Josar on Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 9:29 AMABCs and green trees
ABC's John Stossel, a co-anchor of the newsmagazine "20/20" known for his "Give Me a Break" segments, was in Detroit this week to interview Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. and members of unions that represent city workers.
The segment, expected to air at 10 p.m. tonight, is expected to focus on an arbitration decision earlier this week, first reported in The Detroit News, that will allow the city to re-open the Meyers Nursery in Rouge Park over the objection of AFSCME Local 542.
Stossel, who frequently espouses liberterian views, is expected to mock the unions for opposing programs that rely on volunteer labor but don't, according to city officials, cost union members jobs.
The segment is also expected to criticize City Council's refusal to approve a $200,000 contract with the non-profit Greening of Detroit, which will now run the nursery, to plant $160,000 in young trees in the city. The union had argued in both cases that the partnership with Greening is wrong.
Category: Politics
Posted by David Josar on Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 2:31 PMArcher's non-announcement announcement
Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer is not only not running for governor in 2010, he's also not doing a lot of other stuff.
Archer gathered 25 supporters and 10 reporters today to the offices of the Detroit Regional Chamber, where he is an officer, to tell them that, after careful deliberations, he's not forming an exploratory committee for the governor's gig and he's not interested in a post with the Obama administration.
Archer is also not sure who he's supporting in the Feb. 24 campaign for mayor.
"I haven't made a decision," said Archer, adding he's met personally with the major candidates and warned them of the difficulties of doing the job.
"I want to hear what they have to say. I want to hear what they're going to do."
That's a lot of nots.
Here's one more: The City Hall Insider is not sure how Archer's indecision is going down in the camp of his onetime right-hand man, former Deputy Mayor Freman Hendrix, whom Archer endorsed in 2005.
Category: Politics
Posted by David Josar on Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 1:55 PMGary Brown re-confirms he'll run for council
Gary Brown was on hand today when Dennis Archer announced he would not run for governor.
"I was curious," Brown said, when spotted by City Hall Insider at the former mayor's press conference in downtown Detroit.
Brown, who was awarded $3.6 million by the jury in the whistle-blowers trial last year, said he is ready to run for City Council in 2009 and is staring to work with consultants on how to get out his message. He earlier had toyed with campaigning for the U.S. House.
"People know Gary Brown the deputy chief. I want them to know who Gary Brown the city councilman will be," he said.
In Detroit, name recognition can be an important part of winning any race. Brown was in the news all this year because his firing sparked a slow-burning scandal that eventually toppled former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Brown said he believes he has as much name recognition of any of the eight people currently on council. That could be an understatement. A quick search of database hub Nexis shows Brown's name popped up in newspapers more than 600 times last year, three times more than folks such as Councilwoman Alberta Tinsley-Talabi.
Category: City Council
Posted by Christine MacDonald on Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 11:29 AMConyers vs. the parliamentarian
City Council President Monica Conyers is known for her tiffs with fellow council colleagues, but now she's feuding with one of the panel's parliamentarians.
On Tuesday, she banned staffer Kerry Baitinger from the council table when she is chairing a meeting, after the two argued over the right way to advance a resolution. It's the parliamentarian's job to remind council members of their own rules and Robert's Rules of Order.
Conyers had advanced a measure approving extended hours for bars, although it had not been written or officially introduced yet. The meeting had ended and Baitinger was advising Conyers on the proper procedure.
Conyers protested, saying she already knew what he was telling her and repeatedly tapped Baitinger's hand with hers. Baitinger asked her to stop and it degenerated from there.
It ended with Conyers telling Baitinger he couldn't sit at the table with her anymore and requested another parliamentarian she said was "nicer."
Conyers has had previous run-ins with the parliamentarians.
Earlier this fall, she ordered the two from their old location - at a desk across the room - to beside her at the council table so they could whisper council's errors into her ear instead of having to announce them to the whole room.
Category: City Council
Posted by David Josar on Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 10:21 AMMartha Reeves goes back to school
Councilwoman Martha Reeves made a surprise announcement this morning: She has received a scholarship to attend the University of Phoenix, which has 200 campuses across the U.S. and also offers online degrees.
"I am proud to announce they have offered me a scholarship so I can continue my education," Reeves said as she introduced the Detroit Youth Concert Choir, whom she met while visiting the university's campus in Southfield.
The choir performed this morning before council's Planning and Economic Development Committee met.
Reeves, 66, is up for re-election in 2009. She has struggled at times. Her name has come up in a City Hall probe involving a sludge hauling contract, and two liens for unpaid taxes have been filed against her that remain unpaid, according to county records: a $7,392 Michigan tax lien from March 2008 and a $193,167 federal tax lien filed in Dec. 2006. For a more detailed look at her fiscal woes, go to Robert Snell's Tax Watchdog.
Reeves attended Northeastern High School. Here's the Motown legend back in the day:
Category: Kwame Kilpatrick
Posted by David Josar on Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 10:07 AMRemembering Kilpatrick: From smirks to hijinks
The City Hall Insider recevied more than 100 requests for certificates of appreciation signed (via stamp) by former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Accompanying those requests were recollections by readers of events that featured the now jailed ex-mayor.
Here's a sample:
"My favorite KK moment, in the court room when he was asked if he was satisfied with the plea bargain. He laughed." -- Shasma of Detroit.
"My favorite moment from the KK story was his smug look all along until the sentencing when it sounded as if the judge was going to take his PAC money. That was the only time he looked surprised and like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar." -- John from Royal Oak.
Bradley, a Detroit attorney, remembered when Kilpatrick closed his post-plea speech with his now famous prediction: "Detroit, you done set me up for a comeback."
"He is telling us there is going to be a sequel. I would typically say that would never happen in a million years but Detroit politics is like no other place!"
"My favorite Kwame moment was when, after his pled guilty and he gave his last speech. During the earlier court appearance, his wife Carlita cried and looked very sad and depressed. That same evening at Kwame's final speech, Carlita had obviously taken something to perk her up. As he was finishing his speech, Carlita walked up to him acting like a love sick teenager, attempted to elicit more than the one kiss he gave her and then the final WOW was when Kwame said, 'You done set my up for a comeback.' I did not know whether to laugh, cry or puke. -- Ella from Marquette
The Insider found the certificates in the trash, along with ones signed by the former mayor commemorating retirements. They're going fast, but a few remain. E-mail us with your favorite Kilpatrick memory and we'll send one on the way.
Category: Mayoral election
Posted by Leonard N. Fleming on Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 2:33 PMHood goes national
The mayoral campaign of Nicholas Hood III is receiving some national advice from the influential Democratic political consulting firm Strother-Duffy-Strother, the City Hall Insider has been told.
The Washington D.C.-based group has dispensed campaign strategy to a host of federal, state and local candidates ranging from Bill Clinton to Al Gore, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.
Al Williams, who is Hood's campaign manager, said he talks daily with Dane Strother, one of the partners of the firm.
Hood, the former city councilman and pastor in his second run at Detroit's top job, has been making a serious run at the office by getting out front of his adversaries with a serious door-to-door campaigning and a host of billboards scattered on buses and above highways.
Hood isn't the first mayoral candidate for the Feb. 24 special election to bring on a national consultant to help with strategy. Dave Bing, the retired Detroit Pistons legend and industrialist, has hired longtime national consultant Jill Alper to advise his campaign.
In 2005, mayoral candidate Freman Hendrix, who ran and lost against Kwame Kilpatrick, received advice from famed political consultant David Axelrod, who helped guide Barack Obama to the presidency.
Although working on a litany of national and state campaigns for decades, Strother-Duffy-Strother has a thin resume on local politics, helping to elect Franklin in Atlanta and Kathy Taylor as mayor in Tulsa, OK, according to its website.
Category: Mayoral election
Posted by David Josar on Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 10:05 AMAnother mayoral debate forum
'Tis the season. Atop several other mayoral debates, the Booker T. Washington Business Association and WWJ will host "Meet the City of Detroit's Top Mayoral Candidates Forum" at noon Thursday at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American Histroy, 315 E. Warren. Seating will be on a first-come basis.
According to organizers, confirmed candidates are Dave Bing, Warren C. Evans, Freman Hendrix, Sharon McPhail and Coleman A. Young. Interim Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. has tentatively agreed, organizers said.
The forum will be preceded by a reception at 11:30 a.m. For more information contact the Booker T. Washington Business Association at (313) 875-4250.
Category: Mayoral election
Posted by Leonard N. Fleming on Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 6:32 PMA McPhail-sponsored debate?
What happens when you cut Sharon McPhail out of the first televised debate? Well, you should expect a fight, some choice words -- and possibly competition.
McPhail, the two time mayoral candidate who is gearing up to formally announce her third run for the office, is thinking about trying to persuade a TV station or access channel to stage an alternative debate to the Dec. 2 one between Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr., basketball legend Dave Bing and former Deputy Mayor Freman Hendrix, the City Hall Insider has learned.
Although she hasn't officially approached anyone about another debate, others who conceivably could join her include former Councilman Nicholas Hood III, Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans and state Rep. Coleman Young II. Like McPhail, they've been left out in the cold during the debate. The rationale: Cockrel, Bing and Hendrix all placed higher on the Rossman poll. The only independent poll so far, it was conducted in early October -- before most had declared their candidacies.
"I think that it's pretty clear what they are doing," said McPhail, referring to herself as the only major candidate being left out. "I've won a mayoral primary (against Dennis Archer in 1993.) It's pretty transparent what they're doing."
She is also thinking of filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, WADL-TV (Channel 38) and the Detroit Free Press, which is sponsoring the debate with Radio One Detroit. McPhail is especially irked because the initial letter sent to all the candidates indicated sponsors would pick four candidates for the debate, not three.
"I'm not telling them what to do, but I'm saying do what you said you were going to do," McPhail said.
The debate sponsors have said they didn't intend to shun candidates, but can't accommodate everyone. The debate is planned for WADL's Clinton Township studios and space is limited.
Low poll numbers are no stranger to McPhail, she said, because she came out of nowhere to win the primary against Archer, who beat her in the general election in 1993. McPhail, who also served on City Council, also ran in 2005 and lost in the primary.
McPhail is among 14 candidates who filed paperwork to run in the Feb. 24 campaign to succeed her former boss, Kwame Kilpatrick. McPhail, his former general counsel, hasn't said when she will finally announce her candidacy but told the City Hall Insider it will be soon.
Category: City Council
Posted by Christine MacDonald on Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 3:50 PMCockrel delays council confab
Kenneth Cockrel Jr. has delayed his first appearance before the City Council as mayor.
He and Chief Financial Officer Joe Harris were expected Tuesday to lay out the major setbacks Detroit could face if it doesn't get its audit done by Nov. 30.
But that appearance has been moved to Thursday, although that date isn't in concrete yet.
No matter when it happens, it will be an interesting dynamic to see how the onetime City Council president interacts with his former colleagues. Will they give him some slack after less then two months on the job or hand him a grilling?
Officials with the Michigan secretary of state have said if they don't receive the financial audit by Nov. 30, they won't let Detroit self-insure its nearly 5,300-vehicle fleet. That could force the city to shut down everything from police cars and fire trucks to garbage trucks and buses.
Before the council appearance, Cockrel plans to hit Washington D.C. on Wednesday to lobby for auto aid and meet with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, his staffers said.
