Enotes

In another time, in another era, against another backdrop, a statue of Orville Hubbard outside of City Hall was a monument about which the good people of Dearborn didn't bat an eye. And not just Dearbornites. It wasn't just the people who lived in that city that knew what Hubbard, Dearborn's mayor from 1942-78, stood for. It was an ironic monument, really, because the statue of Hubbard, in an almost welcoming repose, belied the exclusiveness that pocked his reign over the city. Hubbard was an unapologetic segregationist . That's not opinion. But those ways were widely accepted by his citizenry, particularly in the first 25 years of his being mayor. To the people of Dearborn, Orville Hubbard represented the sheriff that kept their streets safe and the town prosperous, despite sharing multiple borders with the city of Detroit. Everyone knew what safe and prosperous was code for in Dearborn under Orville Hubbard. No blacks allowed. Hubbard made no bones a...

John Kennedy once said that military victory has many fathers but defeat is an orphan. I think much the same thing is true for monkey shines committed by a politician's staffers. Great ideas and policies have many fathers, but scandals are orphaned. Take New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Please. The Republican governor and possible presidential hopeful for 2016 has a scandal on his hands. People are getting fired. It's all about what I will call, TrafficGate. Seems that members of Christie's staff---in very high places---ordered highway lane closures back in September that severely hamstrung the residents and commuters of Fort Lee, apparently as retribution for Fort Lee's mayor not supporting Christie's re-election bid. The governor has fired Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly , for lying to Christie about her---and, by extension, the administration's---involvement in ordering the closures, which created hellacious traffic jams, mainly beca...

At this time next year, Wayne County will have a new Executive-elect. But what about Bob Ficano, you might ask? If he wins, he'll hardly be new. This is true. Ficano is, theoretically, up for re-election next November. But his candidacy appears to be dead in the water. Ficano can't raise money, number one. He hasn't been able to for quite some time. The foibles of his character and his political machine have caught up to him. People have been distancing themselves from Ficano---people who matter. The old 10-foot pole thing. I would be very surprised if Ficano chooses to run in 2014. He ought to save himself the embarrassment, and the effort. Just fade away, head back to the private sector, work for a law firm and collect a $200,000 salary somewhere. It's too good for him, but there you go. I spent one year working for the Wayne County Commission (2010), but that's all it took for me to be impressed enough with one man who I hope runs, and who I think will ...

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy, here's a piece from the archives, penned two years ago, about how we can all thank Jack Ruby for all the conspiracy theories. Yes, He Did November 22, 2011 He'd be up for parole every few years, always denied. Then he'd return to his private cell and bob back below the surface again. Perhaps Geraldo Rivera or Barbara Walters would have interviewed him. His look would be older and gaunter as time went by. Maybe he'd be propped up by some oddballs as a sort of anti-hero, like they do with Charlie Manson et al. Regardless, he'd have been held up as the assassin of President John F. Kennedy. He would have been the first celebrity "lone nut," as his crime happened just as TV was really beginning to take off as a medium. Maybe you'd see his likeness on t-shirts sold in mall shops such as Hot Topic. Lee Harvey Oswald, 48 years ago today, squeezed the trigger of his Italian-...

Playing Whack-a-Mole is never good if you're in political office. It's best left to the arcade world. You know the game called Whack-a-Mole, right? You insert your quarters, grab the plastic mallet, and whack as many mole heads as you can in the allotted time. The heads pop up from different holes, at unpredictable times and locations in front of you. It's a harried, frenetic little game. It's good arcade fun, but not so fun if you're elected. Even worse when you're the Most Powerful Man in the World. President Obama is playing Whack-a-Mole, and it's killing his second term. Maybe his presidency as a whole. The president, these days, is reduced to going before the American people and apologizing for a website. And, for being less than forthright about whether people could keep their existing health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. And he's making policy changes to the ACA on the fly. It's all Whack-a-Mole stuff. As president, ...

This would have been a rootin', tootin' mayoral election in Detroit, if the city wasn't bankrupt. Or under an emergency manager. Or still stinging from Kwame Kilpatrick news coverage. This could have been a doozy. Instead, it begs the question, "What if they gave an election and nobody showed up?" Of course there will be voters. The die hards will show up next Tuesday and choose between, mostly, Mike Duggan and Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon. But the "they" I am referring to in the above rhetorical query is the media. They haven't bothered thus far, so it makes one wonder if they'll take an interest at all. It doesn't help that Duggan leads Napoleon by as much as a 2-1 margin, if you believe pollsters. This was one election I was looking forward to in Detroit, for a change. The mayor's race hasn't been all that compelling since 1973, when Coleman Young became the city's first black mayor. But here came Duggan,...

Everyday, it seems, we are reminded that just because one holds a position of respect and dignity, doesn't mean said person is respectful and dignified. Take Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. Please. In a New York Times   Magazine interview , the conversation turned to the city of Detroit. That's when Menino checked respect and dignity at the door before opening his mouth. "I'd blow the place up and start all over," Menino said. Now, Detroit has its problems, that's for sure---bankruptcy not withstanding. The city is hemorrhaging population, tax base and credibility. Its schools don't perform. There's a lot of waiting that goes on---to get a streetlight fixed, to get an ambulance, sometimes to even get a police officer to stop by while a crime is being committed. But Menino not only used a poor choice of words, he did so with terrible irony. Boston, as you know, was indeed bombed, at the Boston Marathon in April. Someone really did try to blow ...

Maybe if Facebook, Twitter et al had been around when John Kennedy ran for president as the first Roman Catholic candidate, I could properly compare. Or when Dick Nixon was trying to serpentine around the Watergate investigation, and social media was all the rage at the time, that would be another base line study. Hey, what if we had the Internet during the Civil War? That would be something. I'm talking about polarization, and boy does it seem to be at a peak these days---the days where there is the Internet and everyone races to their keyboards to post the latest good stuff for their side and the bad stuff for the other folks'. I am on Facebook often, and it seems like people are using it strictly as a propaganda tool. I prefer to think of myself as a Facebooker with diversity. My stuff ranges from food to sports to humor to cute animals. And more. But there are some folks whose timeline is filled with mostly political rhetoric and smarmy comments about what they...

The question may no longer be, will Detroit's residents elect a white mayor? It may be, by how large of a margin? Mike Duggan kicked butt in Tuesday's primary election---as a write-in candidate. He captured nearly 50% of the (granted, paltry) voter turnout, garnering about 16,000 more votes than Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon. Again, Duggan did all this as a write-in candidate. Now, write-in candidates typically don't register a blip in elections, let alone in a big city like Detroit. Their candidacies are usually symbolic in nature; afterthoughts, or in protest. Normally, the only place you can get written in and win is in a high school student council election. So this is big doings, that Duggan, the former CEO of the DMC and a deputy Wayne County Executive under Ed McNamara, whose mayoral candidacy looked to be dead less than two months ago, not only gathered traction with his write-in candidacy, he trampled the competition. Duggan got about 44,000 write...

What is it about being in a position of leadership in Detroit that causes one to lose one's head? Charles Pugh is the latest to exhibit strange, disturbing, and perhaps, illegal behavior. Pugh, the now former City Council President, is in a firestorm of controversy, from the way he vanished from the face of the Earth recently to his alleged "inappropriate" relationship with a teenage boy. Text messages were uncovered that show Pugh's frantic and panicked efforts to get the boy's mother to drop plans to take the relationship public. The mother alleges that in addition to Pugh giving her son, who attended the Frederick Douglass Academy, gifts, there was an additional "incident" that supposedly occurred in Madison Heights recently. In texts uncovered by the Detroit News , Pugh is clearly distraught over potential media coverage that would ensue if the boy's mother went public. “I feel like I’ve run out of options to even have a normal life. ...

Well, lookie here---we have ourselves another "only in Detroit" moment. Specifically, only in Detroit, when it comes to politics and city administration. Mike Duggan won't be the next mayor of Detroit . If this was football, you'd say that he got waylaid by an end around. If it was basketball, you'd say that he got backdoored. If it was hockey, you'd say that he got caught with his head down. If this was baseball, you'd say that he got picked off third base while staring into the stands. OK, enough with the sports analogies. But not enough with the mess that yanked Duggan from the August 6 mayoral primary ballot, for it has only just begun, and it hasn't even yet had an effect on the citizenry. Duggan won't be mayor because he won't be on the ballot. He can't even be a write-in candidate. Duggan, bidding to become the first white mayor of Detroit since Roman Gribbs was replaced by Coleman Young in 1973, has been bumped out of cont...

As a basketball player, David Bing arrived in Detroit at just the right time. A skinny guard out of Syracuse, Bing was the Pistons' sloppy seconds of the 1966 NBA Draft. The Pistons heartily preferred Cazzie Russell, the dazzling forward from the University of Michigan, some 45 minutes from Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit. But the Pistons lost a coin flip for the first overall pick, and Russell was snatched up by the New York Knicks. The Pistons then "settled" for Bing with the second overall choice. "Don't worry," former Pistons player Earl Lloyd told team brass after the draft. "You just got the best player in the country." Indeed. Bing revived a moribund franchise with his smooth passing and dynamic moves to the basket. There was reason to come to Cobo and watch the Pistons. Crowds that had been in the 2-3,000 range inched up over 5,000 per night. In his second season, Bing led the NBA in scoring average and the Pistons made the playof...

Kevyn Orr is just like any Washington, D.C. bankruptcy attorney who is black, who has a strong resume, and who oozes confidence. Except that he's been plucked from the vine to save a city that some say is beyond saving. Orr is Detroit's new Emergency Financial Manager (EFM). He is unique in that, while he's a bankruptcy lawyer and has been a part of many such restructurings, he actually would prefer not to lead the city into bankruptcy as a way to cure what ails it. "Frankly, I'd like to avoid it," Orr told the Detroit News' Nolan Finley . "Bankruptcy can certainly have benefits to what the emergency manager would have to do, but I would like to think of that as a last resort as opposed to a first option. No, I don't think we're inevitably headed to bankruptcy, but people have got to be realistic, reasonable and focused on changing the architecture of the finances of the city so they can go into a sustainable model for the future." ...

Carl Levin never shortchanged Michigan. In an ever-growing world of political cynicism---both from the constituents and from the lawmakers themselves---it was good for Michiganders to know that Levin, the six-term U.S. Senator who won't seek a seventh, was on the job. He may go down as one of the best, most effective senators ever to represent the great state of Michigan. Hell, he may be the best. I used to think that no one would eclipse Phil Hart in that category, but Levin has changed my mind after well over 30 years on the job. Levin won election in 1978. It was the Republican Bob Griffin whose seat Levin won. Griffin initially didn't seek re-election but then changed his mind. But it was too late; Levin wasn't to be denied. It was Levin and Don Riegle in those days---two Democrats who were progressive, young and determined to make their mark in Washington. Riegle had won Hart's old seat, in 1976. Riegle was Michigan's senior senator by just two year...

For the protectionists and paranoid who live in Detroit, these aren't the best of times. How can they be, when it looks like Michigan Governor Rick Snyder will announce that the city will be cast under the spell of an Emergency Financial Manager (EFM), and a (gasp!) white man is running for mayor, and might be the frontrunner? Both of these have happened in the same week. Mike Duggan announced his mayoral candidacy, officially, earlier in the week, and Snyder's announcement is expected two hours from now, as I write this. This has to make the "stay in your own lane" Detroiters' insides gnarl up. A few weeks ago, a letter writer from Detroit wrote to the Free Press and wondered why those of us in the suburbs care so much about Detroit. "I don't care about Troy or Bloomfield," the writer said. Then the writer asked us who would reach out to help Detroit to "stay in your own lane." The letter was long on paranoia and protectionism ...

It was the swig of water seen 'round the world. Florida Senator Marco Rubio has caused quite a stir around the Internet (and the water cooler; sorry!) for an oddly-timed grab for a water bottle and a quick swig during his rebuttal to President Obama's State of the Union speech. In a way, you have to feel for Rubio. It must have been a terrible feeling to know you're on national television and in dire need of water. But why wasn't Rubio's rebuttal pre-recorded? Everyone who is anyone in Washington gets an advanced copy of the president's SOTU address---especially the folks, you would think, who are charged with formulating the official retort. Instead, Rubio must have delivered his bit live---hence the frantic water grab. I used to be in local cable TV and watching Rubio's dry mouth dilemma reminded me of something comical (for me, at least) that happened during a live talk show. The guest was then-leader of the Michigan ACLU, Howard Simon. We start...

Will she or won't she? Rest assured that there will be a time when Hillary Clinton isn't so much in the public consciousness during President Obama's second term, but it's hard to imagine that time right now. As if Hillary needed another vehicle with which to prove her moxie, reaffirm her popularity and look presidential, shes doing so right now as she handles the batting practice pitches that Republican Senators are tossing her during the Benghazi hearings. Will she or won't she? That's the question on everyone's lips right now---supporters and detractors. It's no longer a question of If Hillary Clinton, former First Lady, former Senator and outgoing Secretary of State, would make a good president. That query has long ago been answered (to recap: YES she would). It's now a matter of whether she chooses to pursue the world's highest office in her bid to become the United States' first female Commander-in-Chief. The Benghazi hearings...

Well, that didn't take long. The year 2013, the year of the next Detroit mayoral election, was hours old when the first salvo was fired by a candidate at another, and---surprise---it had the tinges of race baiting to it. Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, by all indications a pretty smart guy, said something un-smart that was clearly aimed at presumed candidate Mike Duggan. Napoleon told a reporter that Palmer Woods, one of the city's jewels when it comes to neighborhoods, wasn't really a part of Detroit. Come again? Palmer Woods is where Duggan has recently taken up residence as he presumably prepares for a run at Dave Bing's job---whether Bing runs for re-election or not. Duggan, as we all know, is white. The day after saying flat out that Palmer Woods is not Detroit, Napoleon backpedaled. "Palmer Woods is not Detroit? Nothing is further from the truth," Napoleon wrote on Facebook. "It is one of our prized neighborhoods. However, the Pal...

Susan Rice tried to take one for the team, but she put it behind the eight-ball instead. Rice, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, today yanked herself out of the running (that she presumably was in) to be the replacement for the retiring Hillary Clinton as President Obama's next Secretary of State. In a letter to the president, Rice wrote, in part, " the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive, and costly -- to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities. That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country." The road to Hell, they say, is paved with good intentions. And Rice just paved another one with her premature bailing on the president. If you believe the conspiracy theories---and this one seems to have some merit---the GOP assault on Rice's competence to be SOS, which was odd in of itself for its "jumping the gun" nature, is part of a scheme to bring Massachusetts Senator John Kerry to the fore as Clinto...