Nolan Finley: Finley: Mayor's race is on, even as takeover looms

The horses are entering the starting gate in the Detroit mayoral race. Mike Duggan says he'll say for sure whether he's running on Feb. 26. Mayor Dave Bing, still publicly coy about his plans, is holding a fundraiser the next day. Benny Napoleon isn't even pretending indecisiveness. A growing list of former lawmakers and community activists are quickly filling out the field.

But what job awaits at the finish line? And why do they want it?

Gov. Rick Snyder will likely name an emergency manager for Detroit well ahead of the May candidate filing deadline.

That appointment will put the mayor in the bleacher seats as a spectator, right next to the City Council. The emergency manager will have full responsibility for running the city, will make all the decisions, and will plot a long-term strategy for keeping Detroit healthy.

As for the mayor, he or she may get trotted out once in a while to cut a ribbon or present a plaque, but that's about as far as the mayoral duties will go. Why would anyone spend a small fortune and months on the campaign trail to win that job?

"An elected mayor will still be relevant," says Napoleon, who would be walking away from his Wayne County Sheriff's post if he wins the election. "There will still be a role. You can always be a spokesman for what the city needs."

Napoleon and others contemplating the race don't expect the neutered role to last long.

"At some point, the city will emerge from state control," he says. "The new mayor will have a new vision, in a new era, and a chance to reshape and reenergize the city."

That day will come sooner rather than later, predicts Duggan, the former Detroit Medical Center CEO who moved into the city from Livonia last year to make a mayoral bid.

"I believe I can assemble a team to run the city, and at that point, the governor should step aside and let me take over," says Duggan, adding the naming of an emergency manager won't change his plans.

Duggan is campaigning against a manager, arguing only an elected mayor can draw competent department heads to turnaround the city.

"I don't know how an emergency manager recruits a police chief or any of the other staff needed to run the city every day," he says.

"There's no job security. Naming a manager could actually make city services worse because you won't have talented people running city departments."

The new emergency manager law that kicks in on March 27 would allow the City Council to remove a state-appointed emergency manager with a two-thirds vote after 18 months.

Whether that provision will apply to an emergency manager appointed while the current law is still in place is uncertain, and there are other hurdles that must be cleared.

I can't imagine that Detroit's $12 billion in bond and pension liabilities, its broken operating systems and its culture of dysfunction will all be cured in a year-and-a-half.

More likely Detroit is looking at a minimum three-year process for cleaning up the mess.

And then there's the real possibility of bankruptcy. If that happens, a court trustee will shove aside the elected mayor.

And yet candidates are chomping at the bit to win a race with no prize for winning.

nfinley@detnews.com

(313)222-2064

Follow Nolan Finley at detroitnews.com/finley, on Twitter at nolanfinleydn, on Facebook at nolanfinleydetnews and watch him at 7:30 p.m. Fridays on "MiWeek" on Detroit Public TV, Channel 56.

Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130214/OPINION03/302140324/1007/rss07

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