Dalton's Political Review-- Please comment below

On December 10^th I had the opportunity to interview incoming Detroit City Council President, Charles Pugh for the Politics and Life Talk Show on AM 1500 WLQV. Admittedly, I was one of the skeptics concerned about the idea of having someone with no familiarity with the legislative process and no political experience leading Detroit’s legislative body in these difficult times.  And while there were a number of issues I would have liked to discuss with Council President Pugh I felt that for the benefit of myself and my fellow Detroiters it was important that we use our brief time together to get a better understanding of Mr. Pugh’s plans to create jobs, balance our city budget and revitalize Detroit’s economy.

As someone who ran in this summers city council race I know the question of what services, jobs and departments need to be reduced or eliminated was one of the more frequently asked questions so I was surprised when Mr. Pugh, who talked often about being ready to lead on day 1, stated that he hadn’t formed any decisions on the difficult questions and was willing to defer to the mayor on this issue. Sure, as mayor, Dave Bing is the person most responsible for decisions about job cuts and service reductions but part of Detroit’s past problems have resulted from having a council that seemed to see its role as reactionary instead of proactive. 

Part of the reason our new city council will contain so many new faces is because Detroiters are looking for new ways to approach problem solving here in the city. Detroit’s mayor and city council should be in constant conversation about the job reductions and service cuts necessary to balance the city budget so the formal process can proceed smoothly and without the back and forth bickering that has delayed previous budgets and caused Detroiters so much frustration.

The majority of my questions for Mr. Pugh focused on the mayors plan to sell 250 million dollars in bonds and other revenue generating means. And while Charles Pugh has some good ideas about saving money through the elimination of inefficiencies I was disappointed to hear him suggest that President Obama should provide Detroit with a financial bailout similar to the ones provided to the wall streets and General Motors.

While I understand the sentiment that fuels the federal bailout approach to solving Detroit’s problems, I think its important that out leaders be rationale and pragmatic when it comes to finding solutions to Detroit’s problems.  Unfortunately, waiting for a blank check from the federal government is a recipe for disaster. The federal government is running a deficit so large that the congress recently voted to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

Furthermore, a direct infusion of funds to Detroit would instantly set a precedent that every struggling municipality in America would cite in their own request for free government money. Lastly, given the lack of transparency and corruption that has been revealed in Detroit’s government how could anyone make the case that congress should issue Detroit blank check to use (or misuse) as we please.

In the end, my skepticism about Charles Pugh wasn’t completely eliminated but I am reassured by Mr. Pugh’s desire to improve the city and his willingness to seek guidance from those who are more informed, experienced and/or knowledgeable than he. So this New Year Detroit let us resolve to be patient with our new city council and more importantly let us resolve to make sure we are part of solving the city’s problems instead of creating them

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