Detroit mayor needs to take a cue from governor, GM
By: Daniel Howes

Two years ago, amid General Motors Corp.'s downward spiral into bankruptcy, a terrifying proposition roiled behind the scenes at Detroit's annual power confab on Mackinac Island:

Could the city, Wayne County and just about anyone else with the right connections persuade the stumbling automaker to keep its headquarters in Detroit? Because then-CEO Fritz Henderson was exploring whether to bolt the city for Warren in a bid to consolidate operations and save money.

The threat was deadly serious. But it didn't happen, thanks to persistent lobbying by Mayor Dave Bing and others, pushback from Detroiters in key positions in the Obama administration and intervention by the president himself, who spoke directly with the mayor several times during those grim days.

"It's over for Detroit if you do this," Gene Sperling, an Ann Arbor native and economic adviser to the president, yelled in a meeting recounted by auto task force chief Steven Rattner in his book, "Overhaul." "Don't do this to Dave Bing. He's a good man trying to do a good thing."

The mayor is still a good man trying to do a good thing. But that may be part of an increasingly apparent problem, especially when compared to the promising rebound of GM and the whirlwind accomplishments of Gov. Rick Snyder and the GOP-controlled Legislature.