Photo montage by VOD
By Diane Bukowski
Commentary on the Bing, Snyder, Duncan, Bobb, Lewis et al. orgy
DETROIT – Just before Mayor Dave Bing’s former executive assistant Rochelle Collins filed her lawsuit against him and his now former chief of communications Karen Dumas, Bing announced it contained “salacious” allegations.
Karen Dumas and Dave Bing: Detroit's latest celebrity couple
Collins levels charges in the suit that Dumas falsely accused her of authoring an anonymous letter stating Bing and Dumas were having an affair, and that Dumas told her the Mayor and his wife Yvette have a “strange” marriage. She says Dumas ran around on shopping trips during a joint trip to Washington, D.C., preventing Bing from having a scheduled meeting with a U.S. Senator. (Lawsuit pdf too large to download to VOD; click on http://detnews.com/article/20110616/METRO01/106160424/Ex-Bing-aide%E2%80%99s-lawsuit-stirs-City-Hall-turmoil for link to lawsuit, at right of article. )
- Rochelle Collins with husband Oreese Collins, Jr, former DPS purchasing chief; is this why she wanted mayoral control over DPS?
Here we go again. But whether Bing and Dumas were screwing around on the side, or whether Dumas was busy stocking up on Burberry apparel, is not the point.
The real and absolutely appalling affair exposed in the lawsuit is that between Bing and Governor Rick(tator) Snyder. According to Collins, not only did those two have a relationship which gravely betrayed Bing’s oath of office, it was a regular orgy involving U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, DPS czar Robert Bobb, Bing’s Group Executive Kirk Lewis, and various and sundry staff members of all involved.
According to Collins, Bing, Snyder, et. al. were intimately involved in the birth of Public Act 4, better known as the “Dictator” Act. They also planned to eliminate officials elected by the people of Detroit, including the City Council and the Detroit Public School Board, and put the city and school district under the dictatorial rule of Bing as emergency manager.
So the issue is not whether Bing is screwing Dumas, but that Bing, Snyder et. al. are screwing the people.
More players in Bing-Rick-tator gate orgy: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, billionaire advocate of charter schools Eli Broad
Dumas and Collins, while aiding and abetting this clandestine orgy, no doubt provided a titillating sideshow for its chief players. They are now providing a distracting “catfight” for the daily media to amuse itself with, while ignoring the real scandal. Unashamed, Dumas even had the nerve to appear on Channel 2’s “Let It Rip.”
The dark heart of the lawsuit is the following section:
Suit says DPS communications chief Steve Wasko and DPS czar Robert Bobb were part of conspiracy
“With the full knowledge and authorization of Defendant Mayor Bing, Plaintiff [Collins]participated in the strategy developed by the Governor and his Executive Staff, the Emergency Financial Manager of Detroit Public Schools (DPS), Defendant Mayor Bing, and the Group Executive to transfer control of DPS to the Mayor of Detroit; including, but not limited to, performing the following duties:
- Worked with a consultant paid for by the Bing Institute (click on BING Institute helps put feet to big ideas) to conduct polling of Detroit citizens whether they support mayoral control of DPS, the results of which showed overwhelming support for the idea;
- Scheduled clandestine meetings between Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, the Governor and/or his Executive Staff, and/or the DPS’ Emergency Financial Manager to develop and execute the strategy;
- Worked with stakeholders to ensure that Public Act 4 contained all necessary provisions to accomplish the goals of the strategy, which included Defendant Mayor Dave Bing being named emergency manager for the city of Detroit and DPS, and dissolving both the Detroit City Council and the DPS School Board;
- Participated in meetings with the Group Executive, the U.S. Department of Education, the Deputy Superintendent for DPS, and/or the chief communications officer for DPS to develop and execute the strategy; and
- Handled every detail of the Group Executive’s transition to become the new Emergency Manager for DPS, and worked closely with the Governor’s Administration and the existing Emergency Manager to finalize details of the transition and ensure that all paperwork was in order.
- Recount hearing called for by Tom Barrow (l) Dec. 23, 2009 was packed by his supporters
To add injury to injury, Bing was clearly not truly elected as Mayor of the City of Detroit in 2009. The recount conducted on the election, requested by his opponent Tom Barrow, found that up to 60 percent of the vote, including 100 percent of all absentee ballots, were classified as “non-recountable.”
Barrow has appealed his lawsuit to the State Supreme Court. But if the “mayor” becomes Bing-tator of Detroit and the Detroit Public Schools, the issue of whether he was honestly elected will become moot.
APTE Vice-President Cecily McClellan at Charter Commission meeting Aug. 10, 2010
Meanwhile, said Cecily McClellan, vice-president of the city workers’ Association of Professional and Technical Employees, the City Council needs to begin action to remove Bing for violation of his oath of office by conspiring to trash the Council, the School Board, the City Charter and the State Constitution. She said members of various organizations plan to appear in front of City Council to demand action Tues. June 21 during public comment in the morning session.
Also see upcoming stories on campaign for a referendum to repeal Public Act 4, which was rolled out at AFSCME Council 25’s hall in Detroit June 18, and 12 other cities across the state; the privatization of Catherine Ferguson Academy and other DPS schools under Evans Solutions (owned by Blair Evans, brother of Warren Evans, former Wayne County Sheriff and Detroit police chief); and update on new assault on DPS announced today by Rick-tator Snyder.
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Bing is inept and in over his head, but the real bad guys are the political parasites who skim or redirect money to their consituents and come back year after year to burrow further into the city’s underbelly regardless of who sits in the Manoogian Mansion. People like Rochelle Collins and Jannie Warren of the Planning & Development Department, Bill Ridella & Audrey Smith of the Health Department, and others like them have made caeers of surviving the turnover of elected officials. They have become experts at saying one thing and doing another – at fooling people into thinking they are indispensible. What’s the latest on the Whistleblower lawsuit from the former Lead Czar? What about the investigation into the misuse of HUD block grant funds? These rats know the news cycle is restless and they take pleasure every time some other calamity takes the focus off of them – they go right back to doing whatever they please with contempt for the cititzens they are supposed to serve. And Bing can’t be bothered – instead he rehires public bathroom inspector, Kirk Lewis, to shield him from all the real issues that require a strong leader’s intervention. No, Bing fiddles while Rome (Detroit) burns, Lewis is a county and corporate lackey who puts his own interests first, and to hell with the rest of Detroit. Follow the unfolding story at Fix Detroit.