Free Press Endorses Bing

[Mista Alan]

http://www.freep.com/article/2009041...der+leadership

[LodgeDodger]

That's right, endorse a guy who has no experience in city government.

[crawford]

Maybe Bing paid off the Free Press?

Because there's no way any civic institution could support this lying carpetbagger, who doesn't know the first thing about Detroit [[or his own resume, for that matter).

[KyleM785]

wow, and I always thought the freep had alot of biased articles against bing...

[E hemingway]

This city will be better off with whichever one wins. Yes, the bar has been set low but both candidates are or would make great public servants. So much so that I hope the one that loses stays involved in local government. They both have a lot to offer and have earned a lot of respect. I wish Detroit voters had even more similar high-quality choices for public office.

[Gistok]

My preference is elsewhere [[Hendrix), so for me either Bing or Cockrel would be OK. If Bing does win, the added bonus is that Cockrel goes back to being City Council President, and that nut job that replaced him will go back to being second fiddle...

[firstandten]

My preference is elsewhere [[Hendrix), so for me either Bing or Cockrel would be OK. If Bing does win, the added bonus is that Cockrel goes back to being City Council President, and that nut job that replaced him will go back to being second fiddle...

Thats about how I feel as well.

Cockrel is auditioning now you kind of know what your going to get from him , Maybe Bing will get his chance to audition for the job in May and we will see how steep his learning curve will be, then hopefully the real candidate Hendrix will emerge in Nov.

[d.mcc]

Thats about how I feel as well.

Cockrel is auditioning now you kind of know what your going to get from him , Maybe Bing will get his chance to audition for the job in May and we will see how steep his learning curve will be, then hopefully the real candidate Hendrix will emerge in Nov.

Not to sound naive...but what makes Hendrix such a great candidate?

[East Detroit]

Our government should be by, of and for the people.

Career politicians should not exist and people should not need government experience to take office.

We need people who are otherwise successful to step up.

[firstandten]

Not to sound naive...but what makes Hendrix such a great candidate?

I think Hendrix has a better grasp of the executive side of city government than Cockrel and would be able to forge the relationships regionally that Detroit needs much like Archer. Hendrix is not without faults of course. He called out the cobo deal but unfortunately because of the timing it was dismissed as political one upmanship. But his criticisms were valid. And after some hemming and hawing he came out stronger than the others on my hot button issue which is the mayor takeover of the schools. Not a perfect candidate but he wouldn't hurt Detroit and I believe he could come up with some out of the box ideas to help us adjust to the fact that we aren't a city of million people and we may never see that number again so we need to do some different things to reflect that.

[firstandten]

Our government should be by, of and for the people.

Career politicians should not exist and people should not need government experience to take office.

We need people who are otherwise successful to step up.

You actually make a profound statement, I thought term limits would be a step in the right direction but they don't seem to work.

Sometimes successful people are that way because they push the boundary of legality so those folks don't want to be vetted for public office.

It is quite the dilemma.

[firstandten]

However this race turns out lets be grateful that we don't have the kind of choices President Obama says he gets when a decision hits his desk.

He said sometimes his decision is between bad and worst.

For that lets be thankful.!

[Prodigal_Son]

Maybe the Free Press endorsed Bing because they want Cockrel to win. I wouldn't be surprised if some voters look at the Free Press endorsement to see who to vote against.

On a more serious note, I like Cockrel, but I am a bit concerned that his former employer isn't endorsing him.

[firstandten]

wow, and I always thought the freep had alot of biased articles against bing...

I thought the same thing, I wouldn't call them biased however, how about critical

Maybe Mr. Henderson will come back on the board and give us some insight into the thinking behind the endorsement, the last time he was very insightful.

My guess is that Mr. Bing was able to give the Free Press enough details during his last interview and stop being so general, and I think there were on-line questions involved as well. I still think his learning curve will be really steep . I still like Cockrel , but maybe the Free Press felt he really blew it with the Cobo deal. His lack of leadership in dealing with a council he knew was dyfunctional could have been the tipping point. Regardless the Free Press left some wiggle room. In Nov they can endorse someone else.

[stinkbug]

The Free Press endorsed Bing because they are absolutely out of touch with the city. Before that they endorsed Evans. Need I say more? How many of their editors actually live in the city anyway?

Besides, they're not really a paper anymore, let alone a Detroit paper. But they do have a new sex column, which isn't really sexy at all. News you can't possibly use.

They won't be around by December anyway, due to their manifest incompetence, so who really cares what they think? Maybe they'll survive long enough to make bizarre endorsements for however many elections we have left this year. Perhaps Sharon McPhail next time? Maybe a little sensationalism would actually make people want to read that God-awful rag.

[Delray]

So far, Bing and his handlers [[some of whom have notably sketchy pasts) have done all they can to insulate themselves from neighborhood residents and their questions.

Bing was a no-show at a recent "debate" at Southwestern HS. An east side organization I work with has repeatedly invited him to meet with a group of more than 100 residents and has been blown off every time. Same thing for a west side group at St. Cecilia that is organizing a big meeting for Weds, April 29, 6 PM at the St. Cecilia gym [[Livernois a few blocks north of Grand River -- all welcome).

Cockrel may not excite the Freep editors, but there is no question that he loves Detroit, and tries to do the right thing.

Bing's knowledge of politics in general and government in particular is slim. Asked what he would do if a city council member were indicted, he replied, "I'd fire them."
[[http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...ON03/903250480)

Uh, "Bing for king"?

--Delray [[who was/is a Hendrix supporter)

[firstandten]

So far, Bing and his handlers [[some of whom have notably sketchy pasts) have done all they can to insulate themselves from neighborhood residents and their questions.

Bing was a no-show at a recent "debate" at Southwestern HS. An east side organization I work with has repeatedly invited him to meet with a group of more than 100 residents and has been blown off every time. Same thing for a west side group at St. Cecilia that is organizing a big meeting for Weds, April 29, 6 PM at the St. Cecilia gym [[Livernois a few blocks north of Grand River -- all welcome).

Cockrel may not excite the Freep editors, but there is no question that he loves Detroit, and tries to do the right thing.

Bing's knowledge of politics in general and government in particular is slim. Asked what he would do if a city council member were indicted, he replied, "I'd fire them."
[[http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...ON03/903250480)

Uh, "Bing for king"?

--Delray [[who was/is a Hendrix supporter)

Bing doesn't do specifics well, he's good at dealing with a lot of generalities so community groups who will fire questions at him dealing with their specific problems are not a good forum for him, so he tries to avoid them as much a possible.

"Bing's knowledge of politics in general and government in particular is slim. Asked what he would do if a city council member were indicted, he replied, "I'd fire them."

Also based on that comment if he wins we better hold off on asking him to make sure the city charter gets re-done.

[buildingsofdetroit]

Maybe Bing paid off the Free Press?

Puh-lease. Freep endorsed Evans in the primary, for whatever reason.

[Novine]

The Free Press blew it again. They've bought into the myth of the savior businessman who will swoop into City Hall and set everything right. Flint gave this a try with Don Williamson who made the same kind of promises.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Williamson

I get tired of the cry of "government should be run like a business". The only thing that tells me is that the person making the statement doesn't have a clue about how either government or business works. The Free Press bought Bing's claim that his "connections" will bring in private investors to invest in Detroit. What is Dave Bing going to be able to offer them that no other Mayor in Detroit could? If private investors perceive Detroit as a bad place to invest today, that's not going to change under Dave Bing unless his plan includes generous helpings of "friends and family" sweetheart deals and preferences.

The Free Press insists that Bing will bring "fundamental restructuring" to city government. But the answers to the problems of Detroit's city government are pretty simple. A lot fewer people, most making less money and getting fewer benefits, for a population and areas of service that have shrunk significantly. Focusing on serving residents and businesses like they are each person's top priority, not their last. No more sweetheart contracts for those with connections. Hiring based on competence, not who you know or who you are related to at City Hall. No more treating city government like an employment agency. Invest in the city, particularly in infrastructure and prioritize resources to meet the critical needs of residents first. What you can't afford to do, you don't do.

I know that these might be radical ideas in Detroit but that's how successful local governments work. It doesn't require a savior businessman to accomplish. It just requires someone willing to explain to Detroiters that the time for change has come and it has to start at City Hall first. Beyond that, there's no miracle solutions for Detroit. Detroit didn't get to this point overnight and it's not going to become a healthy city overnight. But until those kinds of changes come to City Hall, city government is going to be part of the problem, not part of the solution.

[firstandten]

Novine, I think people have bought into the Bloomberg myth that a businessman can come in and change everything. NY and Detroit is not a good comparision and you make good points.

[Cooper]

The Free Press insists that Bing will bring "fundamental restructuring" to city government. But the answers to the problems of Detroit's city government are pretty simple. A lot fewer people, most making less money and getting fewer benefits, for a population and areas of service that have shrunk significantly. Focusing on serving residents and businesses like they are each person's top priority, not their last. No more sweetheart contracts for those with connections. Hiring based on competence, not who you know or who you are related to at City Hall. No more treating city government like an employment agency. Invest in the city, particularly in infrastructure and prioritize resources to meet the critical needs of residents first. What you can't afford to do, you don't do.

Well said, Novine. The agenda is pretty straightforward. Unfortunately, as clear as it seems, so far no one has been able to implement it. I guess that says something about the power of corrupt institutions -- or the incompetence of our leadership -- or both.

[noenaim]

I don't think any newspaper endorsement matters much these days [[if it ever did)

[kraig]

The Freep Press endorsement of Dave Bing probably has a lot to do with the lack of capability of Ken Cockrel. Let's face it, there are a lot of unkowns with Dave Bing, but there are no doubts that Cockrel is a bust. He's boasted of re-opening the 10th precinct and opening 4 new mini-stations along with getting a cobo deal done in 3 months. I think we're all familiar with the cobo deal disaster. And as far as the police stations are concerned, unless there was a hirng of about 75+ new officers [[which I don't recall), all he's done is taken more cops off of the streets and put them behind desks.

Cockrel brags about his experience as a Council Member for the last 11 years. If you examine that you realize that he was simply the captain of the team that couldn't shoot straight. We can point fingers at Monica Conyers, justifiably, all we want. But, City Council was a joke before there was a Martha Reeves or Monica Conyers on it. Before them, you had Sharon McPhail, Joanne Watson and Barabara Rose Collins all acting like fools and he was a part of their alliance along with Maryann Mahaffey and a lot of bad decisions were made that hurt this City dearly.

And with Maryann being sick for much of the term, Ken Cockrel pretty much was in charge of the Council at the time that Lonnie Bates and Kay Everrett were doing their thing. And guess what? So was Ken Cockrel through his Chief of Staff John Clark. Is anyone dumb enough to believe that Ken Cockrel didn't have any knowledge of what was going on? John Clark was his middle man in a lot of dirty deals and cover ups. Ken Cockrel excused a lot of sexual harassment by one of his former city council employees along with that employee assaulting a Detroit Police Officer at a City Council Party. Ken Cockrel even solicited donations from corporate entities in order to hold a picnic at one of the other Councilmembers private residences a couple of years ago. He's dirty as hell and the Free Press knows it. They won't endorse him because they know it's just a matter of time before he's caught.

[SWMAP]

My preference is elsewhere [[Hendrix), so for me either Bing or Cockrel would be OK. If Bing does win, the added bonus is that Cockrel goes back to being City Council President, and that nut job that replaced him will go back to being second fiddle...

Actually, the Council is now trying to put together a plan that calls for any Council member away from his/her seat for 6 months will have to move to last place, irregardless of their election tally. Clearly aimed at Cockrel

[kraig]

Actually, the Council is now trying to put together a plan that calls for any Council member away from his/her seat for 6 months will have to move to last place, irregardless of their election tally. Clearly aimed at Cockrel

That proposal won't get far. It violates section 4-103 of the City Charter.

Now, if they want to really do something, they should try to come up with rules that would prevent Council Members from constantly missing work.