  Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 3886 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 198.208.223.35 |
http://www.clickondetroit.com/ politics/4460233/detail.html Senator Enters Detroit Mayoral Race Kilpatrick's Spokesman Withheld Comment On Clarke's Decision DETROIT -- Democratic state Sen. Hansen Clarke said Friday he's running for mayor to revive neighborhoods and bring the city back from financial chaos. Clarke, a native Detroiter, briefly ran for mayor four years ago, then withdrew to support the campaign of Kwame Kilpatrick, the current mayor. Clarke said in an interview Friday that he thought Kilpatrick would inspire people, but now thinks the mayor has proved powerless to stop the city's bleeding of people and money. "I'm doing this to save the city of Detroit. People are losing hope in the city," Clarke said. .............. | ||
Wcpo_intern Member Username: Wcpo_intern Post Number: 1536 Registered: 04-2004 Posted From: 68.60.140.71 |
For those that value the Metrotimes editorials over that of the news: http://www.metrotimes.com/edit orial/story.asp?id=2620 "That leaves one final spot. If I could vote, the first person I’d choose is a steep underdog: State Rep. Hansen Clarke, who finished 12th in the primary. Clarke is an interesting man with a fresh outlook. Though a native Detroiter whose mother is African-American, his father was from India. That, and life, have given him both an insider’s and an outsider’s perspective. “The entire system is set up to take care of the politicians and the establishment. It should be about the people,” says Clarke. Politicians say those things all the time, but Clarke, 44, sounds like he means it. He’s had a complex life. He was a bright lad whose fortunes and self-esteem drifted downward after his father died. He dropped out of college and at one point he found himself on welfare. Nevertheless he picked himself up; went back to college, won a scholarship to Cornell University, then to Georgetown law school. He came home and got elected to the state Legislature in 1990. He admits he thought he was hot stuff. Two years later, he got a bucket of cold water when he lost in the primary. Clarke finally made it back to Lansing in 1998. Now he wants to put his talents to work “listening to our citizens and rebuilding this city.” An expert on public procurement law, he’d like to use that knowledge to speed the removal of blighted buildings. Most of all, he wants to get public officials to think of themselves as servants of the people, rather than vice versa. Anyone who has ever dealt with Detroit’s Stalinist bureaucracy knows how welcome that would be. Clarke is no stranger to self-promotion, but his attitude and energy would be very welcome." | ||
Digitaldom Member Username: Digitaldom Post Number: 239 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 67.149.108.143 |
I am glad to see a person running for election who worked there way up from the bottom... Yet, to see what he can really do, or if it's all PR..That's another story... | ||
Urbanator Member Username: Urbanator Post Number: 5 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 69.14.166.158 |
Please run for Council Sen. Clarke. Vacant seats and ambition = opportunity for new leadership! | ||
Urbanvaquero Member Username: Urbanvaquero Post Number: 286 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 12.75.23.61 |
Yes, please run for council, Senator. They need people with legislative savvy on that body, and you're more than qualified. Good legislators do not make good mayors, as we found out with Kilpatrick. Take your hat out of that ring. Detroit needs an administrator to save it from it's financial messes. We love you, Hansen, but this isn't your bag. Don't end your stellar political career by being the mayor who spent two-years angering at least 1 in 80 Detroiters (yes, folks, 1 in 80 Detroiters are employed by the city) by "rightsizing" city government. You don't want that on your curriculum vitae, and I can't see why any of the other candidates would either. Leave cleaning up this mess to the Emergency Financial Manager(s). Let your light shine as a rightminded councilperson, presenting and passing legislation, improving quality of life in our muchbeloved 482XX-neighborhoods. -Brenda |
