2009 mayoral election draws big crowd of potential candidates
Message scandal prompts early, widespread interest
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY, ROCHELLE RILEY and ZACHARY GORCHOW • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • July 20, 2008
More than a year before Detroit's mayoral election, many high-profile candidates are strongly considering a run for the job, unusually early because of the text message scandal.
Nearly all of the likely candidates, who hail from backgrounds as diverse as business, law enforcement and civil service, say they may run because they want to restore integrity in city government.
"If the city is going to survive, it's going to survive because of good people -- quality people who are willing to step up to the plate," said the Rev. Nicholas Hood III, who is strongly considering a run even though his 2001 bid failed. "The stars shine brightest when it's darkest outside."
Others who say they may run for mayor, including current Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, include Benny Napoleon, Detroit's former police chief; Dave Bing, a Detroit businessman and former NBA star, and City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr.
Also mentioned widely as contenders: Freman Hendrix, who lost to Kilpatrick in 2005; Bella Marshall, Wayne County chief operating officer and wife of entrepreneur Don Barden, and Charles Pugh, a Fox 2 reporter and news anchor.
As of Monday, 24 people had picked up petitions to run for mayor and 104 had picked them up for City Council.
Kilpatrick, who is wrangling with eight felony charges while he completes his second term in office, said during a February radio interview that he plans to run for re-election in 2009.
Denise Tolliver, Kilpatrick's press secretary, said Friday the mayor's response to whether he is running has been -- and continues to be -- that "he's always running for mayor." She declined to comment further.
The last time such a who's who of Detroit considered running for mayor so early was the 1993 election, when the anticipated retirement of Mayor Coleman Young after 20 years in office generated massive interest. Two full years before the election, Dennis Archer, who was in private practice after resigning from the Michigan Supreme Court, was campaigning for a race that eventually included U.S. Rep. John Conyers, well-known attorney Sharon McPhail, now the mayor's general counsel, and Wayne County Commission Chairman Arthur Blackwell II.
For Bing, whose disclosure this month in a Free Press exclusive that he was considering a run sparked interest across metro Detroit, no one particular scandalous moment motivated his actions; it was that there were so many.
"All of this seems to be happening at once for the first time in the history of the city, and we can't allow ourselves to sit back and let all of these things that are negative come down on us at one time and not do anything," he said. "If the city is not going to make it -- and I don't believe that's a possibility -- you've got to go down with a fight."
While Bing immediately vaults into the upper tier, his comment that he would serve only one term drew a negative reaction from a wide spectrum of business, labor, political and neighborhood leaders who said Detroit needs a leader willing to spend eight to 12 years addressing the city's massive problems.
"We need somebody who's committed to stay," said Leamon Wilson, a Detroit leader in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "I'm hoping that whoever comes along is someone who wants the job, not just to be there one term."
"This is a significant level of individuals that are out here," Eric Foster, a political consultant with the Detroit-based Urban Consulting Group, said of the potential 2009 field. "You really have some good options if the citizens of Detroit decide they want to go in a new direction."
Cockrel, who has spent nearly 11 years on the council, said the text message scandal prompted him to think more about running for mayor, but reiterated that "my thinking on the subject ... predates our current mayor's scandal by a long time."
It is unclear how the Synagro scandal -- in which Cockrel's chief of staff, John Clark, resigned after getting caught on surveillance video allegedly accepting cash related to the contract -- would affect Cockrel's prospects. Although Cockrel has said the FBI has told him he is not a target -- and Cockrel voted no on the contract -- seeing his longtime top aide at the center of the scandal could be damaging, Foster said.
Most analysts said Cockrel would become one of the top-tier candidates if Kilpatrick resigns or is removed from office, making Cockrel the interim mayor. Running as council president, particularly with the Synagro scandal, would be more difficult in such a star-studded field, they said.
Still, the number of quality candidates circulating their names shows a consensus in the city that someone has to stand up to Kilpatrick and defeat him, said the AFSCME's Wilson, whose union endorsed Hendrix in 2005. Wilson has called for Kilpatrick to resign and is supporting an effort to recall him.
"Anybody that's ever thought they should be the mayor, now's the time they should consider running," said Wilson. "I think that folks are of the belief that he's beatable."
Bernadine Martin, a community leader in the troubled Condon area south of the I-94 and I-96 interchange, said Detroiters need to take advantage of the early field to carefully research the candidates, given the failures plaguing the city's elected leadership.
"We need to get deeply into their pasts, their lives, to find out about their integrity," she said.
The possibility that so many major figures will run is exciting, but emphasis on personalities cannot be allowed to overwhelm the major issues facing the city, said Frank Nemecek, president of the Warrendale Community Organization on the city's west side.
"Hopefully, there will be a very candid discussion about police response time and core city services," he said.
Napoleon, who ran against Kilpatrick in 2005 but didn't make it out of the primary, said Nemecek's concerns, particularly those about public safety, are foremost on his agenda. Napoleon said he has spent time listening to residents, community activists and business leaders who want concrete solutions to the city's crime issues.
"Making Detroit a safe city needs to be the No. 1 priority of the mayor," said Napoleon, an assistant Wayne County executive.
Neither Pugh nor Hendrix would confirm he has plans to run. Both said that they are focusing solely on their jobs. Marshall declined to comment.
"I am committed to being a journalist at Fox 2 at this time, and I cannot discuss anything beyond that. I'm not allowed to, because of station rules," Pugh said.
Analysts said the question for Hendrix, chief government relations officer for Eastern Michigan University, will be whether he can correct the mistakes of 2005, when Kilpatrick came back from a humbling primary defeat to win.
Hendrix, 57, was quoted by WWJ-AM (950) radio in May as calling for Kilpatrick to resign and saying he was considering running, but in a recent interview said he couldn't remember what he had said then.
"I'm doing everything I can to steer clear of the scandal," he said.
Contact SUZETTE HACKNEY at 313-222-6614 or shackney@freepress.com.
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