My Take on the Cockrel Story
I’ve found this thread very interesting. Let me make just a couple of comments.
I’m not sure how many people in Detroit—not to mention city workers getting cut or laid off—would agree with gazhekwe who believes cushy raises for staffers are okay as long as the budget isn’t exceeded. Since when is the point of the game to spend as much as you can without going over some budget amount. Detroit is now run like The Price Is Right?
Also, I made it clear in my report that nobody questioned higher pay for more responsibility in the mayor’s office. But those employees no longer had those responsibilities when they returned to their jobs at the council. Even Cockrel tacitly admits they were no longer earning those bigger paychecks.
Look at it this way: If Channel 7 made me an anchorman and paid me, say, $500,000 a year, but then management changed and they demoted me back to reporter, I’d expect my salary would/should drop, wouldn’t you agree? Different job, different pay…and as so many folks around Detroit will tell you these days, you can up, you can go down.
What’s really distressing is how Cockrell responded. Note he disputed not one fact I reported. Instead, he tried to argue that no rule, policy or law was broken. I never suggested it was. Kwame broke no rule when he leased the Navigator for a dollar less than the threshold that would have required Council review. As so many thoughtful posters have noticed, this story was about judgment, pure and simple.
It’s hard to say on camera, as he did, “Yeah, you could a make an argument that says they’ve made a little too much and you could make an argument that says they should have been cut immediately. That’s how I chose to handle it…” and then turn around and argue that my reporting these facts was “a politically motivated slam piece.” Oh puh-leeeeze. Mr. Cockrel.
He and I do agree about one thing he wrote: “...the good and fair-minded people of Detroit will see this story for what it is and draw the appropriate and right conclusion.” Methinks that’s what he’s most worried about!