L. Brooks Patterson's Detroit bashing in New Yorker draws fire

Source: Detroit Free PressJan.存倉 21--In an article this week in New Yorker magazine, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson is quoted as making a series of inflammatory remarks about Detroit -- including, "Any time I talk about Detroit, it will not be positive ... the truth hurts, you know?"The headline -- "Drop Dead, Detroit!" -- set the tone for a profile of Patterson that was published online Monday and described him selling the merits of Oakland County while repeatedly bashing the state's largest city. A Patterson spokesman said the article was the product of an agenda against Patterson and that it cast Patterson "in a false light."Patterson also is quoted as saying "Before you go to Detroit, you get your gas out here (Oakland). You don't, do not, under any circumstances, stop in Detroit at a gas station! That's just a call for a carjacking."The article was written by Paige Williams, whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post and GQ magazine. She described Patterson giving her "an extended tour of his empire" in a chauffeured minivan this past fall. She interviewed him as they rode along.In answer to a question as to how Detroit might fix its financial problems, Patterson was quoted as saying: "I made a prediction a long time ago, and it's come to pass. I said, 'What we're gonna do is turn Detroit into an Indian reservation, where we herd all the Indians into the city, build a fence around it, and then throw in the blankets and the corn.' "The story caused a firestorm of reaction Monday, including on social media. Detroit City Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins said, "His comments are so outrageous that they don't even deserve a response."Patterson's spokesman, Bill Mullan, said the 75-year old Republican politician was unavailable for comment Monday, but Mullan issued a statement."It is clear Paige Williams had an agenda when she interviewed county executive Patterson. She cast him in a false light in order to fit her preconceived and outdated notions about the region. Mr. Patterson's record on advancing regional issues in a transparent and responsible manner is unparalleled. His initiatives -- including Automation Alley, the regional law enforcement management system CLEMIS and his leadership on the Cobo Authority -- have had a highly positive and nationally recognized impact on the region."Mullan's statement did not dispute the quotes or apologize for Patterson's comments.A top Democrat in Oakland County's mostly Republican political hierarchy said he was disappointed but not surprised by Patterson's statements."That's not how I operate, but that's just what Brooks does," Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash said, after reading the New Yorker profile online Monday night. Nash, who became the first Democrat elected to Oakland County's top water-management job in 2012, said that "throwing around this kind of language doesn't do anybody any good -- there's no need for name-calling."The Rev. Charles E. Williams II, president of the Michigan chapter of the National Action Network, said, "These remarks are repulsive and racist. Not just because the City of Detroit is over 80% African American, but because it is also a direct slight to the American Indian who occupied the land before Detroit was Detroit and Oakland County was Oakland County."Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who shared a stage in front of the Detroit Economic Club last week with Patterson, Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, declined to comment Monday. Ficano couldn't be reached.Hackel said he wouldn't comment on Patterson's remarks, saying he's focused on lifting up the region. "I'll let the people judge that and judge him," Hackel said.-- Editorial: L. Brooks Patterson's comments are the last thing the region needsThere was a collective cringe across social media as Patterson's off-color comments managed to offend many Detroiters and suburbanites, even as some political analysts say the sentiments aren't anything that many voters in Oakland County would find outrageous or disagree with.The reactions on social media were swift: "Every paragraph made me wince," tweeted @RethinkDetroit. @Davezilla tweeted: "L. Brooks Patterson needs to be voted out of office for saying crap like this."On a chauffeured drive from Oakland County to a yacht party on Lake St. Clair, Patterson tells Williams that he warned his children about going to Detroit, and that the only thing Detroit has to offer that the suburbs don't is professional sports events."For that, fine -- get in and get out," Patterson is quoted as saying. "But park right next to the venue -- spend the extra 20 or 30 bucks."Williams, reached late Monday at her home in Boston, refuted Mullan's claim of there being an agenda against Patterson."Our focus was simply to explor儲存 what made Oakland County so successful. That's what we did do. It's a balanced portrait," she said.She said she was drawn to write about Patterson by "just Oakland County's history of financial success."Oakland County had been "clearly very successful in a region that's been in a lot of trouble, so it was naturally an interesting subject," she said. "Anytime someone succeeds is interesting. People want to know how they did it."Joshua Pugh, a spokesman for the Michigan Democratic Party, said the remarks divert attention from substantive issues. "When Republican politicians make these kinds of offensive and divisive comments, it sets our state back," he said.A spokesman for the Michigan GOP didn't return a request for comment.Patterson's comments differ from a more conciliatory tone he has taken in recent months as Detroit careened into bankruptcy, including publicly advocating for a regional millage to support the Detroit Institute of Arts and supportive words about a deal for an independent authority to run Detroit's water department.In an opinion piece in Sunday's Free Press, he strongly backed a public-private effort to raise funds to save the DIA's art in a deal that also would reduce cuts to pension benefits for retired Detroit city workers.-- Commentary: L. Brooks Patterson: Why saving the Detroit Institute of Arts matters to all of usBill Ballenger, longtime Michigan political observer who served as a Republican in the state House and Senate, equated Patterson to the uncle who tells dirty jokes, although he said Patterson "stops short of going over the edge, just short of going too far." Ballenger, who was quoted in the New Yorker article and said his quotes were accurately reflected, said the story presented what he thought was a balanced picture of the bombastic suburban leader."He gets away with murder," Ballenger said. Among his constituents, "Patterson has always been able to maintain this image of not being personally or viscerally hostile to either the African-American population or the city, but he tells it like he sees it with some hard-edged jokes."Ballenger acknowledged that the comments won't help efforts to bridge the city-suburban divide marked by class and race."The question is how much," Ballenger said. "They certainly don't help any effort to portray Detroit as a hub of the region. But he's expressing what a lot of people in areas of Oakland County say. He may have a style of humor that's over the top, but substantively his opinions square with what the majority of people in Oakland County believe."Political analyst Greg Bowens, who served in the Dennis Archer administration, said that it's hard to believe the comments are a reflection of a widespread sentiment of Oakland County residents."I feel sorry for the guy as he is portrayed in the article. Old. Alone. Feeble," Bowens said. "All he has to hang onto is petty bigotry, sexism and bad jokes."But the comments came at a unique time.Many communities in Oakland County and elsewhere Monday were celebrating diversity and unity as part of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.Detroit this week is welcoming visitors from around the region to the North America International Auto Show downtown.And the Michigan GOP is rebooting its effort to recruit African-American voters through an outreach office in the city, as the party struggles with derogatory comments by west Michigan's Dave Agema, the Michigan Republican committeeman, regarding gays and Muslims.Williams said the publishing was not timed to coincide with King Day."We publish stories when they're ready to run," she said.In Gov. Rick Snyder's State of the State address last week, the governor called for civility and tolerance.Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel wouldn't comment directly on Patterson's remarks, but said the governor believes "it's Detroit, Michigan, not Detroit vs. Michigan. The city thriving again is in the best interests of Detroiters and the entire state ... There's a groundswell of positive energy and progress, with much work left to be done."Steve Mitchell, a longtime Michigan pollster, said Patterson likely won't face any political risks for the comments, remaining popular among most Oakland County voters -- Patterson said last week that he has no intention of retiring anytime soon."But what it impacts is people who live in the suburbs who might want to try out the city but may not do so now," said Mitchell, a Republican. "I know Brooks well. He has worked well with every mayor including Kwame Kilpatrick trying to further the relationship between the suburbs and Detroit. I suspect the reporter found him on a day when he was wound up, and he may have said some things that he may regret saying."Copyright: ___ (c)2014 Detroit Free Press Visit the Detroit Free Press at .freep.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉