Mike Duggan for Detroit Mayor

**Bill07073** · July-02-12, 07:26 AM

Here is a link to a Detroit News article
http://www.detroitnews.com/section/metro

What do you think?

**Farnsworthfarms** · July-02-12, 08:21 AM

NO.
He can stay running his micro-world the DMC...

**Crew** · July-02-12, 08:31 AM

Originally Posted by Farnsworthfarms

NO.
He can stay running his micro-world the DMC...

Mike will be out of the DMC early next year. He crafted his exit strategy with the sale of the DMC to vanguard.

**Smirnoff** · July-02-12, 08:32 AM

Duggan, Fieger, or whoever that has the proven credentials of running a successful enterprise & has the toughness to finally eliminate all the corruption.....is Martha Reeves running?

LOL

**jpbollma** · July-02-12, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by Smirnoff

Duggan, Fieger, or whoever that has the proven credentials of running a successful enterprise & has the toughness to finally eliminate all the corruption.....is Martha Reeves running?

LOL

For me, it would either have to be Bing or Duggan. I don't like any of the others who have announced thus far. Pugh and Fieger are both jokes. Whatever his faults may be, at leastBing is taking on the enormous debt problem and has routed out some corruption. Duggan has a very impressive resume and great connections. For me, it would be one of them.

**Danny** · July-02-12, 09:07 AM

Detroit is ready for a white Mayor, Detroit is ready for Mike Duggan.

Duggan absolutely saved DMC from its failures.

1. He regained its trauma center.

2. Supports the building of the new heart hospital in 2014.

3. Improve the its 29 minute emergency response rooms.

Duggan can save Detroit from its financial and political failures and bring regional and ecomonic development into Downtown Detroit and improve its neighborhoods, police and fire depts and pulblic transit. Duggan can negotiate better with the city unions than any other politicians.

So Vote Mike Duggan for Mayor of Detroit 2013. A great white hope.

If America can put a black man in the white house. I'm sure Detroiters can put a white man in the black house.

**jpbollma** · July-02-12, 09:16 AM

I really wish his race didn't matter, but for better and for worse I guess it does. Some of the Watson followers will probably bleat about a "takeover" in Detroit, even though there are tens of thousands of non-black residents in the city. The suburbs will probably automatically look more favorably on Duggan and residents will want to work more closely with him mainly due to his skin and the fact that there are some white racists in the burbs who do not want to work with any black mayor of Detroit. Stupidity in both sides from a minority of people. Like I said either Bing or Duggan for me. Each will have challenges.

**Lowell** · July-02-12, 09:24 AM

Fashion alert. Trend-watchers are reporting that 2013 luggage-makers are going retro replacing vinyl and nylon with carpet.

But, hey, that bomb was be lobbed against Bing and he survived it.

What a whacky build up to 2013. I just don't get a Duggan candidacy.

Did I miss some populist ground swell of support with supporters chanting his name?

Does he have some magic bullet that we can't see that can overcome the core contradiction that the City of Detroit does not and cannot have the revenue to continue as long as it is stuck caring for almost all of the region's poor with all the high insurance, crime, homelessness, beggary, middle-class flight, blight and more that comes with it?

Fieger? Fah-get-about-it.

Oddly enough the best option might be to elect a Republican and then let the Republicans in Lansing and nationally fall over themselves to throw money at Detroit to make it succeed. Bob Blackwell pulled that ploy in Highland Park in 70's with some success. Of course, he took his 'commission' as did son later.

**jpbollma** · July-02-12, 09:31 AM

Does Detroit still have a lot of "Projects"? If so, it may be better to do what other big cities have done and demolish them. Give people vouchers to go towards living in other areas. It seems to have worked to reduce crime in other cities.

**coracle** · July-02-12, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by Smirnoff

Duggan, Fieger, or whoever that has the proven credentials of running a successful enterprise & has the toughness to finally eliminate all the corruption.....is Martha Reeves running?

LOL

It's "easier" to run a successful enterprise when you are the boss and you pay the participants to be successful for you or they're fired, rather than a city where you're only the "boss" as long as the participants think you are giving them what they want. I don't think success in business necessarily prepares you for success in a non-business "enterprise". It's easier to make profit than it is to keep spending more than you take in when you know its wrong and doesn't make fiscal sense.
I think Martha started running a while ago but nobody seems to know where she's got too.

**poobert** · July-02-12, 09:45 AM

Yes.

Bing or Duggan? Bing has consistently demonstrated a lack of leadership especially through this financial review board fiasco. He vacillates, hides from the public, makes conflicting statements, and one day appears conciliatory and the other combative. His extended hospital visits are a problem, too. While he certainly has no appearance of corruption, he allowed it to carry over from the Kwame years under his watch and his office, conversely, has been a revolving door for talented people because of his mismanagement.

Frankly we can't afford to have a sick old man who is a weak leader and a failed businessman in office. I can't even believe I just had to type that.

Duggan worries me only because of his electability because:
he's white
no populist credentials [[which is indeed a legitimate problem)

I believe if Bing runs again he will win by virtue of name recognition and Duggan being white. If Bing doesn't run it could actually be a competitive race between Pugh and Duggan. Remember, Pugh garnered the highest votes for Council last year and again, the two biggest factors in any Detroit election - race and name recognition ! - are in his favor. The hatred and ignorance here run deep. Everyone pointed to Bing saying it was a sign of the healing of the suburban/city divide - sure, as long as we're talking about black suburbanites and black city residents.

Would Duggan be a good mayor? I can't think of any non-governmental agencies quite as massive and complex as a medical center. It seems he would be well prepared for the complexities of city government. What about the poor folks? Well, Kwame, Bing, and Ficano certainly haven't been doing them any favors, now have they?

**Gistok** · July-02-12, 09:56 AM

Good Lord... he's another MacNamara legacy....

He was the Wayne County Prosecutor... for a very short time... 2001-2003... and then left public service to take over the DMC... How'd he do there?

**Meddle** · July-02-12, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by jpbollma

at leastBing is taking on the enormous debt problem and has routed out some corruption.

Seriously?

**antongast** · July-02-12, 09:56 AM

Can we stop with the businessmen already?

**jpbollma** · July-02-12, 09:58 AM

Do we have any others in the running that would do better than Bing or Duggan? I only know of them, Pugh and Fieger. Pugh and Fieger are both attention whores. In my opinion they would both be horrible.

**Meddle** · July-02-12, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by poobert

Duggan worries me only because of his electability because:
he's white
no populist credentials [[which is indeed a legitimate problem)

I believe if Bing runs again he will win by virtue of name recognition and Duggan being white. If Bing doesn't run it could actually be a competitive race between Pugh and Duggan. Remember, Pugh garnered the highest votes for Council last year and again, the two biggest factors in any Detroit election - race and name recognition ! - are in his favor. The hatred and ignorance here run deep. Everyone pointed to Bing saying it was a sign of the healing of the suburban/city divide - sure, as long as we're talking about black suburbanites and black city residents.

I'd say if it were down to anybody white and King Kwame', KK would win by a landslide for no other reason. Remember, this is the kind of city in question: http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...Brinker-Street

**Meddle** · July-02-12, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by antongast

Can we stop with the businessmen already?

You don't think running a large city is a business?

**antongast** · July-02-12, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by Meddle

You don't think running a large city is a business?

No. The point of a city government is to serve the public. The point of a business is to make money. If you're running a city government to make money, you're doing it wrong.

**Wheels** · July-02-12, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by jpbollma

Does Detroit still have a lot of "Projects"? If so, it may be better to do what other big cities have done and demolish them. Give people vouchers to go towards living in other areas. It seems to have worked to reduce crime in other cities.

Great plan!

Oh wait they tried that and it killed off most neighborhoods in the city. Damm, back to the drawing board.

**brizee** · July-02-12, 10:15 AM

I don't land on either side for Duggan.

I don't think black voters siding with a white candidate is NEARLY as big an issue as some like to think it is.

What makes me suspicious is why has the Detroit News been beating this guy's drum so hard for nearly three months? Who does he know or owe/owed favors to on the staff? It was nearly an article a day some weeks back.

**Motor City Sam** · July-02-12, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by antongast

No. The point of a city government is to serve the public. The point of a business is to make money. If you're running a city government to make money, you're doing it wrong.

Exactly. Well said.

**cman710** · July-02-12, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by antongast

No. The point of a city government is to serve the public. The point of a business is to make money. If you're running a city government to make money, you're doing it wrong.

You are also doing it wrong if you run a city government that continually has deficits in the hundreds of millions of dollar range. While Bing's record might be disappointing, would a classic politician really do a better job? Perhaps, but not necessarily.

Regardless of whether it is a businessman, politician, or whatever, what Detroit needs most of all is a competent administrator who can do a good job of communicating with the public and deal with all the necessary egos in the city and state government so that he/she can accomplish some goals.

**dmike76** · July-02-12, 10:57 AM

I don't think as many people will care if Duggan's white if he can fix some of the city's problems. I'm not a huge Duggan fan, but I'm willing to give him a shot if he runs a solid campaign. Bing hasn't shown much in his first term. Charles Pugh....I just don't trust that guy to be a leader. He's more worried about his abs than what people in the city want. Feiger's not going to run so I think he's out of this discussion.

**DetroitPlanner** · July-02-12, 11:01 AM

Count Scary for Mayor!

**jpbollma** · July-02-12, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by dmike76

I don't think as many people will care if Duggan's white if he can fix some of the city's problems. I'm not a huge Duggan fan, but I'm willing to give him a shot if he runs a solid campaign. Bing hasn't shown much in his first term. Charles Pugh....I just don't trust that guy to be a leader. He's more worried about his abs than what people in the city want. Feiger's not going to run so I think he's out of this discussion.

Pugh can't even keep his own finances in order, why would anyone trust him with Detroit's?