| This is why I hate parachute-style punditry, where some national figure pops in to the state's affairs long enough to offer some unsolicited advice and the pops out again without actually having to worry about outcomes. The reckoning has arrived in Detroit. Michigan has an aggressive emergency manager law that allows the government to take over failing cities, rather then sending them into bankruptcy. (I've covered how the law has affected the city of Pontiac, a short drive north of Detroit.) And now:
[Mayor Dave] Bing wouldn’t directly reveal what the governor told him, but said the decision is what most have expected. He spoke in terms indicating that an emergency manager is indeed coming to Detroit. He said the governor will make an announcement on the matter Friday, but that he doesn’t expect him to immediately reveal who the appointee would be. Can I nominate someone?
He goes on to nominate Mitt Romney, as noted in the headline. A crazy, stupid idea? Absolutely. Detroiters would never accept Mitt Romney as emergency manager, first of all. They turned out in huge numbers to not elect him last November. Naming him emergency manager amounts to telling Detroit, "I realize you voted against this guy just four months ago, but he's going to be put in charge of your lives anyway." Second of all, the first emergency manager law was voted down largely because Detroiters were afraid that eventually they'd wind up with a vulture capitalist as their emergency manager, ripping up union contracts and selling off public assets. The new law was written precisely to make sure that emergency managers aren't regarded as the Devil by the people in the community whose emergencies they were hired to address. The people of Detroit have already shown that they don't trust the governor or even the rest of metro Detroit, and prefer to be left to solve their own problems. Unfortunately, they didn't do that and it's probable that the state will have to just take over. The experience with emergency managers is that the more they work with the local communities or school districts, the less they are forced to issue executive fiats, the better their relationship with the people governed, the more successful. Does anyone think that Romney would ever have any hope of having a good rapport with the people of Detroit? Didn't think so. |
