- The Mayor’s office released this photo purporting to show Dave Bing (center with glassy-eyed stare) wotking with his press secretary (l) and Chief of Staff Kirk J. Lewis, Jr. (r)
BARROW APPEALS ELECTION TO UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
By Diane Bukowski
April 17, 2012
DETROIT — The following reminds me of one of those kiddie games published in newspapers, where you compare two drawings to find the miniscule differences between them.
First, read the following letter, passed out by the City Clerk’s office to media and all interested parties beginning March 25, 2012. It names Kirk J. Lewis, Chief of Staff, as “acting mayor” for the period from MARCH 26 through APRIL 15, 2012. Note it references City Charter provisions related to the Deputy Mayor assuming the Mayor’s responsibilities. Note also that is has two time stamps on it: March 12, 2012 (upside down) and March 25, 2012 (also upside down.)
Since the letter indicated Lewis was serving until April 15, VOD went to the City Clerk’s office, the official repository of such correspondences, today to ask: WHO’S THE MAYOR?
An official in the back scurried out and brought the following letter. Note that it says Kirk J. Lewis was appointed Deputy Mayor APRIL 2, 2012. There is no expiration date relating to when the elected Mayor will return.
So. was Kirk J. Lewis acting as Mayor beginning March 26 or beginning April 2?
If he did not have the powers of the Mayor prior to March 26, what was he running to Lansing for during that time to negotiate terms of the Consent Agreement with the state treasurer, the governor, his attorney Michael McGee, a co-author of Public Act 4, and Ernst & Young?
Lewis admitted he did so during a Council session April 2, and said he was accompanied by COO Chris Brown, and Council members Charles Pugh, Kenneth Cockrel, Jr and James Tate (not designated to do so by the council).
HOW LEGITIMATE IS THE DOCUMENT THAT RESULTED FROM THEIR TRAITOROUS WORK?
Tom Barrow (l) at recount hearing Dec. 23, 2009. backed by dozens of supporters
Then, VOD thought, well, does it matter anyway? Was Dave Bing truly elected by the people of Detroit? So we thought to contact his opponent in the last race, Tom Barrow.
Barrow challenged that election, winning a first-time ever vote by the Wayne County Board of Canvassers that over HALF THE VOTES CAST, including ALL THE ABSENTEE VOTES, were unrecountable due to massive irregularities. Talking to Barrow, we discovered that he has just appealed his case to the United States Supreme Court – so THAT IS ONE LIGHT OF HOPE AT THE END OF THIS DARK TUNNEL.
“Dave Bing has never been legitimate from day one,” Barrow said. “First he ran his own business into the ground, and now he has run the city of Detroit into the ground. If truly elected officials had done their jobs in the first place, we would not be facing the situation we are in now. It hurts my heart every day to see what has happened.”
Barrow is a long-time, noted CPA.
“I have read the financial statements the city published,” he said. “They do not support the contention that we were going to run out of money April 1. Look, we haven’t run out of money yet, and all municipalities run out of money by the end of the fiscal year, or the state steps in to bridge the gap. And the state hasn’t given us any money yet. But they want Belle Isle, they want our jewels, just like they took Cobo Hall.”
So why are city officials trying so hard to keep Mayor Bing, who is clearly SERIOUSLY ill. So that he can keep signing letters re-appointing his second-in-command at Bing Steel, who helped him run it into the ground, to help Lewis completely disband Detroit?
Barrow raised a reason VOD had not considered.
“If the Mayor steps down, and the City Council President takes over under the City Charter, which is still in effect, then there has to be an ELECTION held, during which the people will finally have THEIR chance to weigh in,” Barrow said.
After Bing, Lewis and Pugh all conspired to give Detroit away to the banks and the state, their chances of being elected are hopefully NIL,
VOD reviewed the revised City Charter, which does not set a time limit for holding the election any longer. However, VOD notes that City Clerk Janice Winfrey is currently complaining that her budget as proposed by Chief of Staff (“acting mayor”/”deputy mayor”) Kirk Lewis will not allow her to conduct elections.
WELL, KIRK, SINCE YOU’VE JUST SIGNED OVER THE POWER OF THE CITY’S ELECTED OFFICIALS TO THE STATE, YOU DON’T WANT AN ELECTION ANYWAY, DO YOU?
