MichiganRadio

Detroit Votes for Mayor...Again DETROIT, MI (Michigan Radio) - On Tuesday, Detroit will again vote for Mayor.

Last year, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick resigned after pleading guilty to perjury and obstructing justice. Kilpatrick's resignation created a series of special elections for Detroit Mayor.

Former Detroit Pistons star Dave Bing won the last election and now wants a full term. But he hasn't been doing much campaigning. At a recent press conference, Bing told reporters he's more concerned with combating Halloween arson than he is about the upcoming election.

"I don't worry about the election so much," Bing said. "My job is to come in here and work for the citizens every day. That's what I've been doing, and that's what I'll continue to do."

Bing's lack of concern reflects his lopsided victory in the August primary. Bing won more than 70% of the vote, while his opponent Tom Barrow took barely 10%.

Since then, Bing says he must work every minute to keep Detroit out of bankruptcy. To do that, he says he must shrink the city's workforce. He's laid off about 500 workers, and threatens to cut even more unless the city's unions take 10% wage and benefit cuts.

Bing has also declined to debate Barrow. In a rare campaign appearance at a Crain's Detroit Business forum, Bing said he's not paying attention to politics.

"I'm doing what I think has to be done," Bing said. "And if you're so concerned about getting re-elected and you put off the things that you know are right that needs to be done, then I think you do the citizens here a disservice."

Bing's budget cuts and low-key campaign have cost him some support, and Tom Barrow has seized on that to jumpstart his flagging campaign. On a recent chilly Saturday morning, Barrow shook hands with union members at the headquarters of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees' in downtown Detroit.The powerful union endorsed Bing in the primary, but now supports Barrow. So have many other labor unions, and a handful of other political groups.

Barrow calls Bing a "Republican" and an interloper who only moved to Detroit to run for political office. He says Bing wants to manage the city like a business.
Barrow says Bing tries to blame the city's financial woes on union employees, but the real problem lies with corruption among city contractors.

"It's not the employees," Barrow insists. "It's these privatized contracts. It's us way overpaying for fundamental services by going to outsiders who are just gouging us."

Barrow's use of the term "outsiders" touches on a long-running theme in Detroit politics: that state and suburban interests want to take over and exploit its assets. At his campaign headquarters on a desolate stretch of Detroit's east side, Barrow chats easily with locals who drop in for coffee. Many aren't familiar with him, but they ARE angry with Bing.

Barrow paints Bing as a political opportunist who lacks a fundamental understanding of the city and its residents. Many of Bing's cuts--including his unapologetic rationale for cutting bus service in a city where an estimated third of the residents don't have cars--HAVE come off as politically tone deaf.

Barrow says while Bing hides behind closed doors he's been running a grassroots campaign and connecting with voters.

"Our city's crying out for a leader," Barrow says. "It wants somebody...a Detroiter. We have now a man who's never lived in Detroit. And he's very uncomfortable with Detroiters, quite candidly."

Barrow now has influential unions and community groups campaigning for him as well. Mark Williams is a union bus driver and Barrow campaign volunteer. Williams says Bing is cutting too many core services. He says he knows some cuts have to be made, but he thinks Barrow is better equipped to make them.

"I believe that when he cuts, he's gonna look at the broad picture, start from the top get rid of some of this corruption first," Williams says of Barrow. "And then make cuts where it don't affect people as much as it affects people the way Bing is doing the cuts."

Bill Ballenger is a political analyst who edits the newsletter Inside Michigan Politics. Ballenger says Bing's swift and drastic cuts to city services have cost him with voters, but his primary lead was so huge that Barrow simply can't catch up.

"You've gotta make some unpopular decisions and do some things that are gonna antagonize people while you have that kind of lead and that much support compared to your rival," Ballenger says of Bing. "And he's done that, and it's cost him, but his lead's been so big that I think he's still gonna be able to survive."

Polls show Bing still leads Barrow by as much as 20 points, but there IS a large chunk of undecided voters. Still, a Barrow victory would be an upset.

Bing's newness and star power clearly resonated with Detroit voters tired of political scandals, but he's lost some of his luster confronting the city's harsh budget realities. If he wins, he will have to govern a city trying to stave off bankruptcy after having alienated some of its most powerful political groups.
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