Quote Originally Posted by Bigdd View Post
And no,.. not any neanderthal can run a county. LBP saw the crash coming [[like I did),.. and started hiring freezes long before. Contracts trimmed, spending freezes etc. So when it finally hit in 2006+,.. they were ready. Detroit by comparison still signing contracts they knew they would never be able to pay,.. even if the crash didn't ever happen.
A good, decent Republican would've seen the exact same thing. He's wasn't a special soothsayer. LBP is nothing special he just connected with the common white man to hate Detroit and therefore was elected the many times we was. He "told it like it was", "speaks his mind". BLAH BLAH BLAH

It's not that LBP didn't run Detroit or had to be Detroit's #1 cheerleader, it's that he refused any sort of regional cooperation because of myopic view that Oakland County doesn't need Detroit. Instead of the region fighting for a pie together, LBP wanted fight for the pie as well against Detroit. What kind of fucked up leader does that in a major metropolitan region when the entire economy is based on one cyclical industry and we should all be fighting for a healthy economy? LBP's attitude and governance has been absolute travesty to bringing this metro area into the 21st century in terms of social barriers, economic diversity, and mobility issues. Detroit's might've been financial bankrupt, but Oakland County was morally bankrupt.

And no, statements such as those don't "pale in comparison". They are easily comparable. LBP is a white man who governs over a majority white county. He is a racist. He says racist things. It's a comparison.

As a former employee of Oakland County, many of higher up/director positions were based on how well connected you were to Boss Patterson. As well, I don't feel like sitting in HR orientation watching a video praising the laurels of how great LBP has been. We all hated this one court administrator, but she was there because she was neighbors with LBP. [[Now I'm not saying that didn't/doesn't happen in Detroit but for a county that touts itself "as better" than Detroit, it clearly is not)