car7858's Blog

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Nolan Finley Dave Bing must get off the bench now

If Dave Bing is going to run for mayor of Detroit, he should start running.

The former Detroit Pistons star and steel company owner says he's close to deciding on a mayoral run. That's good news for a city looking for an honest, competent leader to raise it from the ashes left behind by the Kwame Kilpatrick blowtorch.

A lot of people, particularly the business community, see Bing's business background and impeccable reputation as the best hope for the city's future. I don't disagree.

But Bing won't be anointed mayor. Nor will he be appointed by the business leaders who are urging him to run and are promising the financial and political help he needs to win.

If Bing becomes mayor, he'll have to win the job himself in a tough and nasty campaign.

Several other potential candidates have expressed interest in the job. Some will likely step aside rather than face a candidate of Bing's caliber.

But not all will. And many of the ones who've hinted they're in the race regardless are experienced Detroit politicians with deep roots in the community.

Bing's name alone won't guarantee him votes. He'll have to get down deep into the neighborhoods, sit on porches, meet with community groups and speak from the pulpits of the city's politically vital churches.

Running for political office is intensely hard work. Bing should think of it as akin to an NBA playoff run. And he'll have to trade his tailored business suits for a wardrobe lined in Teflon.

Bing is used to adulation from the people of this town. But candidates don't get much of that. Since he'll be backed by the mostly white business leaders, he'll face the inevitable challenges to his blackness. He'll find it both absurd and offensive. Who wouldn't? But that's Detroit.

And since he still doesn't live in the city, he'll be called an outsider, despite his extensive investments and history.

Bing has to decide he wants to be mayor badly enough to put up with that bullwhacky.

But first, he's got to get himself fully into Detroit.

The city charter requires only that a mayoral candidate have lived in the city for 30 days prior to an election to be eligible.

If he were running in a normally scheduled election -- such as next fall's citywide balloting -- Bing would have plenty of time to move his household to Detroit.

But no one can be sure when the next election is coming.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm is hearing evidence in early September on the City Council's request to remove Kilpatrick. If she takes him out of office, a special election will be held within 90 days. Conceivably, a vote could come by year's end.

There's also a growing recall movement -- recallkilpatrick.com -- that could force a removal election by early February.

It's not as much time as it seems, particularly for someone who's never run for office before.

Whoever wins the special election will enjoy a huge advantage in the 2009 general election.

Bing must have his name on that special election ballot.

If Dave Bing wants to be mayor -- and a lot of people hope he does -- he needs to lace up his shoes and get off the bench now.

Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The News. Reach him at nfinley@detnews.com or (313) 222-2064. Watch him at 8:30 p.m. Fridays on "Am I Right?" on Detroit Public TV, Channel 56.