Sheila Cockrel Not Running for Re-Election

[raptor56]

I 100% support her decision! I think it will definitely allow for the new blood to began charting a new course for the city. Without the old ideas/attitudes getting in the way. Hopefully this will inspire a few of her colleagues to follow her example.

Moica Conyers and Martha Reeves are "new blood" from last election. Boat laod of good they are doing. I think we may be screwed either way.

[GOAT]

Isn't Sheila a part of the Synagro FBI investigation? If so that could well be the reason for her "stepping down". Either that or she knows most of council is about to get thrown out and would rather leave on her terms. Either way, Detroit wins.

[lilpup]

"Bing also said that Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel, who announced today she will not run for re-election, has been an asset to Detroit during her long career on council and that she could be a positive addition to his administration, but added that no overtures have been made."

Denise Ilitch is heading up Bings transition team. S. Cockrel is very good friends with Denise Ilitch. Makes one go Hmmmmmmm????

She's not stepping down now, just is not running for re-election.

[Jmil]

lilpup, I understand she is not stepping down. However he really doesn't have much to offer in the short term. Only if he wins in November can he really promise any kind of secure employment.

[Crumbled_pavement]

Everyone else on council besides Sheila is a deadbeat and/or criminal? Wow.

I don't recall Sheila ever fighting for anything while on Council or opposing anything an incumbent Mayor wanted to do. She truly was "status quo", IMO. The papers say whe was a "budget watchdog", yet many seriously deficient budgets were passed while she was on council. How many of them did she vote "No" on?

She probably was a good community and social activist before she landed on Council, but what did she fight for once she got there?

I might have overlooked her body of work, so please give me some specifics that will change my mind and make me stop wondering how you came to the conclusion that she was the only one on council worth anything.

Fair enough questions. I did not intend to portray Sheila as a saint and the rest as dead beats. However, I do believe Sheila truly believes she is doing the right thing. There is a difference between believing and doing.

However, let's look at the other 7 council members.

Monica Conyers
Barbara Rose Collins
Martha Reeves
JoAnn Watson
Alberta Tinsley
Kwame Kenyatta
Brenda Jones

Now who out of this bunch really impresses you as someone that has the city's best interests at heart? Kwame is walking away from mortgages and abandoning property, Monica - no need to say anymore, BRC traveling to the middle east on our dime and acting like she didn't know she was blowing a wad of our cash, and Martha Reeves hanging out in the casino with her city paid chauffuer.

Granted I don't know much about Tinsley, Jones and Watson, but I'm not left with a warm and fuzzy feeling. I think it's time for a completely new council - and I think we should keep the turnover going until we get some worthwhile candidates.

[Detroitej72]

I think certain members on the council, i.e. Mon the Con, BRC, and Watson are filled with hatred towards white folks, thus they always have a beef with Sheila. Hell, Collins even went to far as to say once that she hates the white race as a whole.

Its time to elect new blood, reguardless of race, to fix the city.

[Jmil]

Good rumors on www.detroituncovered.com

"Rumors have circulated that Councilwoman Barbara Rose-Collins is contemplating calling it quits and Martha Reeves has had problems getting her petitions signed."

[Locke09]

I don't recall Collins ever saying she hated the whole white race.

Anyway, I think Watson and Kenyatta believe they have the city's best interest at heart much as Crumbled_pavement believes Sheila Cockrel has the City's best interest at heart.

But Watson goes overboard sometimes. It gets tedious having her turn everything into a crusade. She doesn't seem to know how to advocate for those she considers to be the "disenfranchised" without showing disdain for other people. She does not seem to be able to temper herself and that reduces her overall credibility. I love her fervency and passion for the people, but I wish she could focus it better.

I would have no problem with an entirely new council, as long as it is diverse and there are a few community/social activists on it.

[Detroitej72]

I don't recall Collins ever saying she hated the whole white race.

Anyway, I think Watson and Kenyatta believe they have the city's best interest at heart much as Crumbled_pavement believes Sheila Cockrel has the City's best interest at heart.

BRC's rant was well documented a few years back when, I believe, she was in the process of loosing her seat in Congress.

One of the few crusades Watsons champions is battling the pollution from the incinerator. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Councilman Kenyatta seems to have the city's best interests as far as voting for many sound business proposals, and shutting Mon the Con down go.

[MIRepublic]

By my count that means at least 6 of the 9 will become private citizens.

Kwame Kenyatta ... annouced he will run for Mayor. No chance of that becoming reality.
Ken Cockrell ... will more than likely run again for Mayor. Either he wins or loses, either way he's off CC.
Shelia Cockrell ... will retire
MonCon ... will run again ... doubtful
Barbara Rose ... will run again ... doubtful
Martha Reeves ... will run again ... doubtful
JoAnn Watson ... will run again ... a lock
Brenda Jones ... will run again? Health problems might influence that decision.
Alberta T.T. ... will run again ... a lock

I actually agree with you on something, here, if even it's just predictions. As others have already said, Kenyatta has dropped out of the mayor's race, so if he ran again he'd be a lock. I'm also wondering what Brenda Jone's will end up doing, but she could also be a lock if she ran again. The rest are pretty spot on.

I personally don't see how Ken, after only having lost to Bing by three points in the special primary and only four points in the special general both of which had abysmal turnouts, wouldn't run, again. Those kind of narrow losses, especially if you know there is going to be a larger turnout for a general fall election, make it irresistable for all but the most selfless politicians to take another stab.

[leland_palmer]

I don't recall Collins ever saying she hated the whole white race.
.

Court tosses defamation suit over candidate's comment on race

http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=2715

A Michigan appellate court on March 9 dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by a former congresswoman against the Detroit Free Press. The court ruled that a quote attributed to former Rep. Barbara Rose Collins was "substantially true" and therefore not actionable.

Ann Hazard-Hargrove, an employee of States News Service in Washington, D.C., interviewed Collins, who represented the district that included Detroit, during her re-election campaign in 1996. Collins expressed her feelings about racism in the interview. States News Service provided a transcript and an audiotape of the interview to the Free Press.

The Free Press published a story, based on the interview and attributed the following statement to Collins: "All white people, I don't believe, are intolerant. That's why I say I love the individuals, but I hate the race." After Collins lost in the primary, the Free Press published a retraction. The newspaper admitted it incorrectly quoted Collins and admitted she had actually said: "All white people, I don't believe, are intolerant. That's why I say, I love the individuals, but I don't like the race."

[BW7085]

I believe when Shelia Crockrell first ran for council she was running off of name reconition. I will give her credit for standing her ground on some issues. Hats off to her for realizing it is time for new blood and ideals. I wish her well.

[kraig]

Can anyone point out what Sheila Cockrel has actually accomplished in 16 years?

[rjk]

Can anyone point out what Sheila Cockrel has actually accomplished in 16 years?

I do sometimes wonder if she gets a more favorable view for standing out from a group of nuts. The same thing with her son. Kind of like the one-eyed king among the blind. It's not hard to look good when you're sitting next to Martha or Monica.

[gnome]

rjk-

Shelia is NOT Ken's mother. Ken's mother is another white woman and she lives out in Arizona, I believe.

Shelia was the other woman in Ken Sr's life. I think they married in the late-1970s and had a child in the mid to late '80s. Shelia was a Corktown/Mexitown activist who's powerbase came from her involvment in the Catholic Workers movement and Anti-S.T.R.E.S.S campaign. I believe her parents were slightly pink back in the day when pink meant communist, not gay.

When Ken Sr. died of a heart attack in April of 1989 while planning to run against Coleman Young; you may recall this was during the time when Joel Loving and Anchovy Calvert filed their paternity suit against the Coleman ... at the time of Ken's death, Shelia said that Ken Sr. had been killed by the intentional sloooow response from Coleman's fire/ems.

[aprilgirl33]

Once Sheila leaves it will most certainly be the inmates running the asylum [[which is not much different than it has been). She is probably fed up with being in the same company as those other loons. In all honesty, how can someone do their job with all the drama that ensues on a daily basis? This council is nothing more than fodder for comedians. They have made a laughing stock out of Detroit. Would any of us really want that legacy? That we were part of bringing Detroit to its knees? I can only speak for myself, but I'd be damn ashamed of myself. While we all know what Detroit was, what Detroit could be...we also have to be painfully aware that with this current council, we are, nothing.

[kraig]

rjk-

Shelia is NOT Ken's mother. Ken's mother is another white woman and she lives out in Arizona, I believe.

Shelia was the other woman in Ken Sr's life. I think they married in the late-1970s and had a child in the mid to late '80s. Shelia was a Corktown/Mexitown activist who's powerbase came from her involvment in the Catholic Workers movement and Anti-S.T.R.E.S.S campaign. I believe her parents were slightly pink back in the day when pink meant communist, not gay.

When Ken Sr. died of a heart attack in April of 1989 while planning to run against Coleman Young; you may recall this was during the time when Joel Loving and Anchovy Calvert filed their paternity suit against the Coleman ... at the time of Ken's death, Shelia said that Ken Sr. had been killed by the intentional sloooow response from Coleman's fire/ems.

There was no intentional slow response by EMS. Sheila and the other people in the house wouldn't open up the door until they cleaned up all the cocaine that was being snorted. Ken had cocaine all in his sytem. To preserve his reputation, the city didn't reveal this information. Unfortunately, by not revealing this information, the City of Detroit left itself wide open for a lawsuit and Sheila Cockrel received a huge settlement when she first got onto Council.

[stinkbug]

There was no intentional slow response by EMS. Sheila and the other people in the house wouldn't open up the door until they cleaned up all the cocaine that was being snorted. Ken had cocaine all in his sytem. To preserve his reputation, the city didn't reveal this information. Unfortunately, by not revealing this information, the City of Detroit left itself wide open for a lawsuit and Sheila Cockrel received a huge settlement when she first got onto Council.

I have also heard EMS took an hour to get there. Where are you getting your version from?

I am disappointed Sheila Cockrel is not running again. Maryann Mahaffey was on the council for about 3 decades and that was okay.
The field is too crowded and the new candidates are virtually all lackluster. Chances are Sheila Cockrel will get replaced with someone much worse. Nobody knew how insane Monica was till she landed herself on council.

[kraig]

I have also heard EMS took an hour to get there. Where are you getting your version from?

I am disappointed Sheila Cockrel is not running again. Maryann Mahaffey was on the council for about 3 decades and that was okay.
The field is too crowded and the new candidates are virtually all lackluster. Chances are Sheila Cockrel will get replaced with someone much worse. Nobody knew how insane Monica was till she landed herself on council.

Sorry, there's no way I could reveal that source without getting some people that still work for the EMS and the WCMA's office and the Law department in big trouble. I completely understand if your posisition is that you would need some way to verify the information, I'm the same way.

As far as Maryann Mahaffey, she's in a different category than Sheila. Although I didn't agree with a lot of things that she was doing, I can admit that she was extremely effective in getting some social reform going in the City of Detroit. She sponsored and passed a lot of legislation to help people, that's undeniable, and you have to give her credit for it. She always maintained some type of agenda. The only problem with Maryann was that she was too anti-business, which is why we're still stuck with Ford Auditorium almost 20 years after we could have had some development there. But, she's also the reason why I believe, that while there are far too many of them now, we do need someone who has a social worker type background on City Council. After 30 years Maryann has a legacy. After 16 years Sheila just has 16 years. She never did anything that has made or attempted to make a difference in this City.

[East Detroit]

I heard it was the EMS who stopped for a drink at the bar and then had a few drinks and finally decided to show up.

Sorry that I can't reveal my sources, but I don't want them to get in trouble, but obviously those saying it takes an hour to move some drugs off a table are protecting some lying sources.

[kraig]

I heard it was the EMS who stopped for a drink at the bar and then had a few drinks and finally decided to show up.

Sorry that I can't reveal my sources, but I don't want them to get in trouble, but obviously those saying it takes an hour to move some drugs off a table are protecting some lying sources.

FOIA the autopsy and the lawsuit. Then, get back to me.

[firstandten]

Everyone else on council besides Sheila is a deadbeat and/or criminal? Wow.

I don't recall Sheila ever fighting for anything while on Council or opposing anything an incumbent Mayor wanted to do. She truly was "status quo", IMO. The papers say whe was a "budget watchdog", yet many seriously deficient budgets were passed while she was on council. How many of them did she vote "No" on?

She probably was a good community and social activist before she landed on Council, but what did she fight for once she got there?

I might have overlooked her body of work, so please give me some specifics that will change my mind and make me stop wondering how you came to the conclusion that she was the only one on council worth anything.

To me the problem with being on the council is that its hard to quantify there achievements, for example take what Sheila has on her city council webpage in terms of her goals and objectives. Did she achieve it ? if not why not

She on a bunch of task forces. Did they do anything but meet.
Ordinance sponsored which should be the meat of her job, one, and what happen to it.

Now, resolutions which are nice but don't mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of the city she has a number of those as well as the others.

They do a lot of routine things which makes it hard to judge their effectiveness. I would think it has a lot to do with the strong-mayor system of the city. And I would image thats why the Mayor always complains about the council trying to do the business he's responsible for.

In my opinion Sheila had one of the better pages on there. Some didn't seem to have anything to do with governance of Detroit