Does Mayor Bing need a deputy mayor, and, if so, who should it be ?

[Woodward's Cousin]

The Detroit News reported today that Mayor Bing had spoken with Jeff Collins and Benny Napoleon about becoming his deputy mayor, and then curiously quotes the Mayor as saying that he doesn't have the money anyway, which I'm not sure I buy as an explanation. Does Mayor Bing need a deputy mayor ? What do you think of the job qualifications of the individuals he has spoken to about taking the job ? And who do you think he should try to persuade to become deputy mayor [[ assuming that funding in actuality could be identified to fund the position) ?
Bing may go without deputy

Mayor says others in administration could fill city's No. 2 role

Leonard N. Fleming/ The Detroit News

Detroit - Mayor Dave Bing said Thursday that he may not seek to fill the open deputy mayor's job vacated by Saul Green last month
In an interview with The Detroit News, Bing said he has spoken with Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon and former U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins about the deputy mayor's post. Collins, he said, was interested but not Napoleon.
"I haven't made any decisions in terms of whether or not I'm going to have a deputy mayor," Bing said in a telephone interview. "I'm not sure that's the direction I want to go in." He insists he has "made no commitments" to anyone about any positions in his administration.
Bing said he has a draft of a new organizational chart that does not include the position of deputy mayor, which Bing had used primarily as the point person to handle the police and fire departments but also the federal consent decree.
"It's not final but at this point the top person in the administration is Chief of Staff Kirk Lewis, and everybody is reporting up to Kirk," the mayor said.
"As it stands now I don't have the budget to bring on a deputy mayor. So I've got to keep what I've got in place, and that's what I'm going to go with for the near term."
[.................]

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110708/...#ixzz1RYV7dOc9

[Fnemecek]

Well, if there isn't a designated deputy mayor then, if I recall correctly, Charles Pugh would automatically become interim mayor if Dave Bing left Michigan at any time for any reason.

[royce]

No. Eliminate the position permanently and save the taxpayers some money.

[Lowell]

How about Kwame? He understands the position, would not require training and I heard he is looking for work. Perhaps he could get a work relase waiver and even pay down some of his restitution.

[gnome]

Ah, let's see, ... KMK, um.

No.

Next!

The DM works as a City Manager does in other cities: they supervise and direct the operations of various departments. Therefore, unless the suggested candidate has water, police, fire, parks & rec, public works and bus driving experience ... Bing should do his ownself a favor and hire an experienced City Manager from Columbus or San Antonio or San Jose or Portland or any other place that functions like a city should.

Hiring a nice guy, an experienced legal mind, a trusted friend is recipe for more-of-the-same. Proof of that is Saul Green, bright and knowledgable about the City and its singularities. But regardless of his sterling reputation in legal and civic circles, Green has not been able to wrench the Departments into functioning units. Same thing with Charlie Beckham who held the position under Bing and Coleman.

Like it or not, the person for the job is someone who is a prick. A ruthless asskicker. A vicious whip cracking strawboss. Someone fearless. Someone who knows what it is like to be hated.

Since Ray Nitske and General Grant are both dead, there may be only one person who can do the job: Christine Beatty.

[Roq]

Since Ray Nitske and General Grant are both dead, there may be only one person who can do the job: Christine Beatty.

I think with my reputation of ruining the City, the only clear choice is...me!

[DetroitPole]

I'm sure any one of these geniuses could clear out their schedules:
http://detroitk12.org/board/members/

[firstandten]

Just for clarification if you have a chief of staff why do you also need a deputy mayor ?

[Locke09]

Just for clarification if you have a chief of staff why do you also need a deputy mayor ?

You don't need a deputy mayor. The chief of staff is usually the one who does the whip-cracking. The last good whip-cracker, like it or not, was Christine Beatty. Bing needs someone similar, without the extra baggage.

[trotwood]

I've never understood the need for a deputy mayor.

[Drexciya68]

Can anyone provide more info on Jeffrey Collins, Deputy CEO for Wayne County? I've heard about a lot of his lowdown and even crooked activities and actions. Isn't this the guy who use to get big time drug dealers and murderers off and back on the streets?

[Motor City Sam]

Bing should actually be reducing his staff and getting rid of some of his department heads since much of the decision making is done or going to be done by the Consent Agreement officials, who we are also paying for.

[Motor City Sam]

Can anyone provide more info on Jeffrey Collins, Deputy CEO for Wayne County? I've heard about a lot of his lowdown and even crooked activities and actions. Isn't this the guy who use to get big time drug dealers and murderers off and back on the streets?

Wow, Drex. I never saw Collins's career reduced to those kind of statements. He's had a long distinguished legal career and is a native Detroiter who knows the City well. That much is indisputable. He was/is a defense attorney, and I know he defended some drug dealers. Don't know about murderers, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had some as clients. I've heard rumors of some shady dealings and actions but there haven't been any formal investigations and certainly no charges filed against him, so I don't know how true those rumors are. I have met him a couple of times and he was friendly and down to earth. When he was a judge he invited me to bring my nephews to his court to observe the proceedings and get introduced to the law.

Here's a bio that gives more detail on his background.

http://www.detroitriverfront.org/drc...reycollins.asp

[313WX]

Bing should actually be reducing his staff and getting rid of some of his department heads since much of the decision making is done or going to be done by the Consent Agreement officials, who we are also paying for.

Well I think the COO and CFO positions were creations of the consent agreement [[correct me if I'm wrong).

[Motor City Sam]

Well I think the COO and CFO positions were creations of the consent agreement [[correct me if I'm wrong).

I think you are right about those positions, 313. I was thinking about whoever Bing had in place who was supposed to be handling those duties before the consent agreement.

Although, there has been so much turnover among his staff I don't know who is there or what they are responsible for these days.

[Drexciya68]

Wow, Drex. I never saw Collins's career reduced to those kind of statements. He's had a long distinguished legal career and is a native Detroiter who knows the City well. That much is indisputable. He was/is a defense attorney, and I know he defended some drug dealers. Don't know about murderers, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had some as clients. I've heard rumors of some shady dealings and actions but there haven't been any formal investigations and certainly no charges filed against him, so I don't know how true those rumors are. I have met him a couple of times and he was friendly and down to earth. When he was a judge he invited me to bring my nephews to his court to observe the proceedings and get introduced to the law.


Here's a bio that gives more detail on his background.

http://www.detroitriverfront.org/drc...reycollins.asp

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I'm going mostly by what a very close friend has told me and he knows quite a bit about that " shady world" in 1980's Detroit. Wasn't Collins also close to Coleman's cronies? I have interest in those days. I'm also interested why Collins is so hell bent on keeping a friend of mine in prison. After he's already served 25 years for one charge. I find it all curious..

[Drexciya68]

About Collins: From http://www.gorillaconvict.com/witsec/

"Have you ever heard of any times the government went back on their deal with an informant?


WI- It’s rare but it happens. Take the case of Richard “White Boy Rick” Wershe. He helped give the feds the biggest police corruption case in Detroit history and when the parole hearing came in 2003 the head U.S. Attorney at the time wrote the parole board saying they did not support his release. He was in since 1990. He got fucked over. The DEA came in and told outrageous lies as well as retired Detroit cops and a Wayne County prosecutor to keep him in prison. The DOJ official said you help us, we help you and it’s a shame that nothing happened in Wershe’s case, because he helped them a lot and received nothing for it, while the people who should be in prison were released long ago. All these were people who told him they would help him. You hardly ever see that in WITSEC. When all the protected witnesses found out that the Department of Justice went back on their word to White Boy Rick it set off a panic in the WITSEC units. You had guys thinking the same thing was going to happen to them. They were calling their lawyers, calling AUSA’s and calling the DOJ, all thinking that the same thing would happen to them. Some of these guys were really in a panic. DC was pissed. You had DOJ officials having to clean up a mess some idiot U.S. Attorney made in Detroit. Needless to say he wasn’t around long. Some FBI agents tried to help him, both active and retired but the head U.S. Attorney really screwed him over. He was a former lawyer for Young Boys, Inc. He was forced back to private practice [[court records show that the U.S. Attorney on the case was Jeffrey Collins). As one Department of Justice official put it, “only in Detroit would you object to a first time non-violent drug dealer like Richard Wershe being released.” While the same office is supporting the release of mass murderers like Nate Craft, 30 murders and Charles Wilkes, 12 murders and 1,000 kilograms of coke. Both of them have been released from the WITSEC program. They were both recently on Gangland. They were part of the Best Friends gang from Detroit. Gangland named Nate Craft the baddest killer/gangster ever previewed on their show and he could be your neighbor."

[Meddle]

Drexciya68,

Dude, get over yourself and quite dragging up old threads with your silly rants.

[Honky Tonk]

We need a MAYOR, not a deputy mayor.