Freep No longer Trustworthy?

[kraig]

ha! kraig, that was actually funny....

Not as funny as your endorsement of him.

Given the article that was published in your very own paper, I have a question for you.

Would you make that same endorsement today?

[sehender1]

Yes. And for the same reasons.
I think Johnson's positives [[this is a guy with a 25-year history in Detroit, by the way) just outweigh his negatives.

It's not that I agree with what he did last year, or that I would say his conduct then doesn't matter. But his knowledge of the charter, his understanding of its shortcomings and enthusiasm for fixing those shortcomings made him stand out among the other candidates. Based on what he knows and is saying, he's, in our judgment, a top-five candidate.

I'll point out that I think it's very easy to discount candidates from afar, without seeing them up close. The endorsement process, which gives us a very close-up, personal look at the entire field, makes the choices much, much closer.

It's fine that you would elevate his conduct on the Kilpatrick scandal above that. We just wouldn't.


[[and for the record, I hated Kool Aid even as a child. I'm more of an Orange Crush guy. :-))

And kraig, let me ask YOU a question.
Have you ever met Johnson? Talked to him about his role in the Kilpatrick scandal or anything else?
And have you met any of the other candidates?

[kraig]

Yes. And for the same reasons.
I think Johnson's positives [[this is a guy with a 25-year history in Detroit, by the way) just outweigh his negatives.

It's not that I agree with what he did last year, or that I would say his conduct then doesn't matter. But his knowledge of the charter, his understanding of its shortcomings and enthusiasm for fixing those shortcomings made him stand out among the other candidates. Based on what he knows and is saying, he's, in our judgment, a top-five candidate.

I'll point out that I think it's very easy to discount candidates from afar, without seeing them up close. The endorsement process, which gives us a very close-up, personal look at the entire field, makes the choices much, much closer.

It's fine that you would elevate his conduct on the Kilpatrick scandal above that. We just wouldn't.


[[and for the record, I hated Kool Aid even as a child. I'm more of an Orange Crush guy. :-))

And kraig, let me ask YOU a question.
Have you ever met Johnson? Talked to him about his role in the Kilpatrick scandal or anything else?
And have you met any of the other candidates?

I have met Johnson before. He's a very nice guy and smart as well. Guess what? So is Lonnie Bates and Kwame Kilpatrick. Would you endorse them as well? I'm sure in a sit down interview, Kwame would blow me away with his answers, in the same manner that Johnson blew you away. However, part of the purpose of a vetting process is to find out how someone has actually performed on jobs they've previously held. In this case, you had the benefit of seeing Johnson perform publicly. As Corporation Counsel, the Brown vs the City of Detroit [[City of Detroit, which happens to be comprised of the citizens that he stated he wasn't responsible to) case was his responsibility. As pointed out in your very own paper, when it was time to accept the responsibility of his title, he chose not to. He witnessed the mayor and the attornies that were either working for the City or contracted to the City do a complete about face on their positions regarding the settlement of that case. There isn't anything in the charter that was vague about his responsibilities that would have kept him from finding out what was going on. He simply chose not to. We don't need someone that has clearly demonstrated a lack of integrity developing policy for the city. I guess you feel otherwise.

I've met a few of the other candidates. I can agree with you on Cara Blount. While I supported his mayoral campaigns, I can't go with Freman Hendrix either. He's more interested in getting on the Charter Commission to keep himself in play and position himself to cut deals than to actually set policy.

I would take Jeff Hunt and Andy Linn over some of your picks.