Business wants new Detroit council

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Execs seek pro-growth candidates who could challenge incumbents
From Monica Conyers' temper tantrums to the colossal combined cluelessness of Martha Reeves and Barbara Rose-Collins to Jo Ann Watson's profession that a mysterious tornado picked up her home and deposited in some new Oz where property taxes are just $68 a year, there's growing consensus that much of what's wrong with Detroit is sitting in the City Council chambers.

Finding competent, credible replacements for the council incumbents is what the political game is all about this year, and the city's business community had decided to be a player.

But a smart player.

Incredibly, in a city desperate for jobs and economic development, polls still show that a political candidate deemed good for business will turn off about as many voters as he or she attracts. That speaks to the self-destructive mind-set responsible for most of Detroit's woes. But it is what it is, and those desperate to bring real change to Detroit have to work around that reality.

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The council race this year is considered too important to the city's future for business leaders not to get heavily involved, even if they have to do so from behind a curtain. So the Detroit Regional Chamber and Detroit Renaissance are spending a good deal of time during the chamber's annual Mackinac Policy Conference this week trying to identify candidates who recognize the importance of pro-growth policies and a healthy relationship between the city and its tax base.

It isn't an easy assignment. More than 200 people have filed to run in the August primary.

"There are some good people on the list. We just have to find them and help raise them above the crowd," says Doug Rothwell, executive director of Detroit Renaissance.

Dick Blouse, head of the regional chamber, adds that the business groups are "looking for pretty high name recognition people who won't have to start from scratch."

The plan is for both groups to focus on the same two to four non-incumbent candidates -- the number depends on the amount of money the groups can raise -- and make sure they have the funds they need to mount an effective campaign. The thinking is that it will take about $300,000 per candidate to seriously challenge the incumbents.

But if four reform-minded council members take seats next to Council President Ken Cockrel after this fall's election, it will be money well spent.

Renaissance and the chamber understand that their overt support of any candidate would be the kiss of death, although it didn't seem to hurt Dave Bing in the mayor's race.

So they're looking for other partners -- ethnic business groups, ministerial associations, community organizations -- to build a broad consensus around a few candidates and provide cover for the financial backing of business.

"It can't be just us," Blouse says. "There has to be collaboration with other groups."

No one is ready to name names yet. But talk on the island is focusing on a few stand-out candidates.

That list includes Gary Brown, the former police commander whose firing began the avalanche that eventually buried Kwame Kilpatrick; Shaunteel Jenkins, a former chief of staff to the late Council President Maryanne Mahaffey; Lisa Howze, an accountant at DTE Energy and longtime civic activist; businessman Jai Lai Dearing, who has run strong in past council races; and small businessman Fred Elliot Hall.

This isn't an easy year to ask struggling businesses to kick in money for political campaigns, particularly for what has been the long-shot prospect of toppling a City Council incumbent.

But improving the economic climate in Detroit starts with effective leadership. If Bing prevails as expected in the fall, the city will have a promising mayor. It needs an effective City Council to go with him.

Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The Detroit News. His column runs on Sunday and Thursday. (313) 222-2064 or nfinley@detnews.com