Stephen A. Jones
July 1, 2009

If history moves in the direction it should, the election of Dave Bing as mayor may someday be seen as the pivot point where Detroit began rebuilding from the political/economic hurricane that pounded the city throughout 2008 and the early months of 2009.

Right now, however, the poorly attended May election is beginning to look like a brief calm in the eye of the storm rather than clearing skies at storm’s end.

Among the questions lingering in the wake of Monica Conyers’ guilty plea to bribery charges in the Synagro sludge hauling scandal is whether Bing — or anyone — will be able to turn the city around anytime soon. The jury is still out on that one.

It is far too early, certainly, to judge the performance of Mayor Bing. He made some early positive gestures — pledging to work for free and looking for ways to open the Manoogian Mansion to the public rather than moving in himself. But those are, after all, superficial considering the dire circumstances facing the city. A lot of hard work lies ahead.

Conyers’ June 26 guilty plea for accepting at least $6,000 in bribes was a stunning development, even though she had been widely rumored to be the target of federal investigators for months and local media had been reporting a plea deal was imminent for more than a week. The City Council president pro tem and wife of longtime Detroit Congressman John Conyers could face as much as five years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Coming barely nine months after former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick resigned, pleaded guilty to perjury charges and was locked up, Conyers’ plea made it seem like Detroit was trapped in a really bad remake of Groundhog Day.

And her plea is not the end of it. Federal prosecutors said no other City Council members were involved in wrongdoing in the Synagro case, though Kilpatrick and his father, Bernard Kilpatrick, have both been identified in the media as potential targets. Prosecutors added that their investigation would continue to examine other possible government corruption in Detroit.

For her part, Conyers mercifully resigned from the City Council three days after her plea, although there were initial indications that she might try to tough it out and continue her run for re-election in the August primary. The Detroit Free Press reported that just hours after pleading guilty in court, Conyers was on the phone to former aide Sam Riddle — who has also been reported as another target of the Synagro probe — asking Riddle what he thought of her chances in the election.

Bizarre and delusional are words that come to mind. But then, that has come to be the norm for a depressingly large number of the city’s public officials.

This city is in desperate need of real leadership. That is why the voters turned to Bing.

Bing’s calm demeanor and thoughtful approach to governing have projected an air of maturity that has been sadly lacking in Detroit politics in recent years. His low-key style, his successful careers in professional basketball and business, and his status as an outsider (he lived in the suburbs for years before running for mayor) are widely seen as assets. Supporters say he has proven leadership ability and is untainted by the skullduggery of internecine political warfare in the city.

Bing came to office with an abundant reserve of good will, both in the city and in the suburbs. Much more is needed from Bing, however, than personal integrity and skill as a fiscal or bureaucratic manager — though those are certainly part of the equation. He has said he’s been the captain of every team he’s ever been on, but it is not clear yet that he knows what it takes to be the captain of a city.

For example, Bing has begun to take heat for being too laid-back. Critics say he did not promptly, publicly and directly address the allegations that the city was diverting tax revenues it collects for the Detroit Public Schools and other entities to cover the city’s payroll. To some minds, he also ducked the issue when it was alleged that the Police Department understated last year’s homicide total by about 20 percent.

On the plus side, it appears that Bing played an important role in cutting a new deal for the expansion of Cobo Center that may save the Auto Show for the city. If the compromise passed by the legislature does not guarantee as many jobs for Detroit-based businesses as city officials would like, it at least leaves the city as owner of Cobo — a sensitive point for those who fear suburban control of prime city assets.

By all reports, Bing has thrown himself energetically into the work of governing, putting in long hours to wrestle with the city’s huge budget crisis. The problem, however, is that most of his efforts have taken place behind closed doors; Bing has so far been the least visible Detroit mayor in my memory and I remember Jerome Cavanagh — which gets us as far back as 1962.

Bing faces what may well be Detroit’s most daunting crisis since Cavanagh watched smoke rise across the city in July 1967. The tragedy of 1967 was devastating, but so is an economy where the unemployment rate is well over 20 percent, home foreclosures are off the charts, two of Detroit’s major auto companies have been trudging through bankruptcy and the city itself appears to be moving toward insolvency.

It isn’t enough for Bing to do the work. He needs to be seen doing the work.

When Franklin Roosevelt moved into the White House in 1933, he didn’t just meet with members of Congress to fashion recovery legislation — he spoke directly to the American people with his Fireside Chats. Those radio broadcasts didn’t end the Depression (nor, arguably, did Roosevelt’s policies) but they did enable millions of Americans to get to know — and develop confidence in — their leader.

High visibility has also been a key part of Barack Obama’s success with public opinion so far. Love him or hate him, it is hard to watch one of his news conferences and not come away with the feeling that he is calm, knowledgeable and in control. In a time of crisis, that is comforting and reassuring to a lot of people.

Bing could learn from those examples. Devising and implementing good policies is only part of the battle. Persuading citizens to embrace those policies requires an energetic and visible effort to cultivate the confidence of the public.

As Bing must know, captains don’t get chosen just because of their skill at the game. Captains are chosen because the team knows they will be there — out front — when the chips are down.

Stephen A. Jones is a Detroit resident and assistant professor of History at Central Michigan University. He is co-editor with Eric Freedman of African Americans in Congress: A Documentary History (Congressional Quarterly Press).