KRYSTAL CRITTENDON: ‘I STAND WITH THE PEOPLE’

•  Says Mayor Bing, Council Six are disrespecting the will of Detroiters
• Announces she will explore formation of slate in addition to Mayoral run 

By Diane Bukowski 

January 15, 2013 

DETROIT – In an exclusive phone interview with VOD Monday night, Attorney Krystal Crittendon expanded on remarks she made earlier that day on WCHB Radio, announcing the formation of a committee to explore a mayoral run rthis year. 

Detroit city attorney Krystal Crittendon.

“People in the community have always supported me,” Attorney Crittendon said. “When I came to work this morning at CAYMC, a security guard gave me a big hug, and people lined up waiting to pay their taxes, including seniors, sent up a cheer.” 

Attorney Crittendon explained further how she plans to collect what State Treasurer Andy Dillon has admitted are $800 million in funds owed by corporations and others to the city, if she is elected. She had said on WCHB that she would launch an immediate review of the city’s books, including outstanding debts owed to and by the city. 

“The Mayor came out last week with a statement that we don’t know exactly how much people owe us due to our bookkeeping methods. However, for instance, in the case of the Red Wings and Mike Illitch [which the Detroit News recently reported owes Detroit $70 million], we have the right to audit Illitch Holdings accounts ourselves. They owe us concession fees, television and other fees. The statute of limitations on such debts goes back six years. After you figure out what the number is, penalties and interest are added.” 

Protester at DWSD Huber plant Aug. 15, 2012.

Crittendon said a culture of indifference has existed among the city’s debtors, because they face no significant consequences for non-payment, and therefore they continue not to pay.

Crittendon said another reason she is considering a mayoral run is her concern over who Bing will appoint as Corporation Counsel to replace her. 

“About a month ago, the Mayor went to the City Council and told them he wants his own counsel, so they voted for the Miller Canfield contract. Now the Mayor’s going to appoint another person to represent the city [as Corporation Counsel]. He’s got his own lawyers; there should be no need to do so.

“Now that he has removed me for supporting the provisions of the Charter the peopled voted for, this will have a chilling effect on anyone who replaces me; they will be afraid they will be removed from office. This nullifies the fact that we had a Charter revision process, which sought to ensure that the office of Corporation Counsel could not be politicized. The people of Detroit further confirmed this in November by voting overwhelmingly for Detroit’s Proposal 3.” 

That proposal further solidified the powers of the Corporation Counsel, which Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette ignored when he dismissed Crittendon’s lawsuit against the city’s Public Act 4 consent agreement in May. Collette said he had his mind made up from the beginning because he did not believe a Corporation Counsel could act independently of a Mayor. 

Detroiters including Sandra Hines (l) line up in City Council hallway Nov. 20, 2012 to attend meeting. Most were not allowed in for full meeting.

“In addition to being a City employee, I’m also a resident,” Crittendon said. “The Mayor and City Council represent me as well, and I am concerned that the will of the people is not being honored and respected.” 

Throughout 2012, hundreds of residents packed City Council meetings to oppose the consent agreement, the Miller Canfield contract, the Milestone Agreement, and the Hantz Farms contract, among other matters. Three days of hearings were held on the consent agreement before the Council passed it 5-4 on April 4, with virtually every speaker condemning it.. Over 600 people packed an east-side church to oppose what they said was a blatant land grab by Hantz Farms. 

Pugh cuts speaker off during public comment at meeting July 16, 2012.

During hearings in Council chambers, hundreds of people were consigned to the hallway, unable to see or hear proceedings, because Pugh refused to move them to the auditorium. (VOD is still seeking attorneys to represent the public in an Open Meetings Act lawsuit, in particular with regard to the Council’s Dec. 11 meeting. The public has six months to file such a suit.)

Judi Briggs, a VOD reader who was at the Hantz Farms hearing, posted the following comment Dec. 31. 

“I must comment, at the Hantz Farm hearing, I went to the side hallway and held the door open for someone who was coming out and he [Pugh] went barreling past both of us into the hallway before either of us could move and started ordering people around like he owned the place,” Briggs said. “‘We need someone to get out here and keep people from walking BEHIND THE TABLE, They have NO BUSINESS on our side of the table!’ I was startled that a politician had so little awareness of how he appeared to his presumed constituents.” 

Council members Gary Brown and Charles Pugh were disdainful of 600 Detroiters who turned out for the Hantz Farms hearing Dec. 10, 2012, voting the next day for it even though it was not mandated by the state.

Before Detroiter Marie Thornton conducted a civil rights-style sit-in at the Council’s Dec. 11 meeting, Pugh remarked that the reason he doesn’t hold Council meetings in the auditorium is that he is afraid of actions by the people. 

He referred specifically to the famous “grapes of wrath” incident at a 2004 Detroit Board of Education meeting, where Agnes Hitchcock of Call ‘em Out tossed a handful of grapes at the stage after the Board voted to close 50 schools, the first in a long series of public school closings and privatization that has devastated the district. 

Crittendon said she favors transparency with the public, and that she would prefer that large meetings be held in the Council auditorium. 

DWSD worker Andrew Daniels-El demands that the City Charter be respected at Call em’ Out meeting Jan. 28, 2009. The Charter still says the people as a whole must vote on any giveaway or sale of Water Department or D-DOT assets. However, the City Council voted later to sell DWSD’s massive Macomb County Interceptor.without a popular vote.

“I have not been a politician,” she said. “I’ve just been trying to represent the city of Detroit as a lawyer. People don’t vote for the Corporation Counsel, but they did vote for the Charter. I believe everything we do should benefit the people of Detroit. In addition to a run for Mayor, I have also begun exploring a the possibility of a slate in order to get people who can work together for the people [on the Council]. “ 

Since Crittendon has indicated she would take on powerful entities like the corporations, VOD asked her what she would do to mobilize the people to support actions she takes. 

“I have no political favors to repay,” she said. “I am not a retread. I am just trying to do the right thing. I am not compromised, and as the people become energized and mobilized by my campaign, I believe they will remain so once I take office. People have become disconnected from city politics because of the actions of many current leaders. People began coming up to me last year and telling me, ‘I have hope now.” As long as I continue to stand with them, they will stand with me.”