Power Play
Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick wrote a memorandum in late August detailing his plan to deliver a large turnout for Granholm in Detroit and listing what he wanted in return:
- 20 percent of new appointees to be African American.
- Directors of the state housing authority, economic development agency, the state's social services and public health agencies and insurance commissioner all to be Detroiters.
- Any new construction of government buildings to occur in Detroit.
- Increased use of Detroit minority contractors by state government.
Now that the memo has been made public, the stuff has hit the fan and everyone is dodging the flying pieces. Granholm, all virtue, rejects the idea of political deals; KK "downplays the significance" of the items listed. But note that no one is surprised by this event. (Source: Detroit Free Press)
Update: Granholm denies that her camp ever received the memo. But that is of no moment. It is common for someone to write up a position, for discussion within his camp, and then make the points in oral conversations with the other.
Further update: In the grand Coleman Young tradition, KK and the Dems now claim that Posthumus's response to the memo is race-baiting. That didn't take long, did it?
7:46:34 AM 
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