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Skubick: Bing's Emergency Manager Talk Directed at Unions
Bad news comes after positive press on Wed.
Updated: Thursday, 03 Nov 2011, 11:44 AM EDT
Published : Thursday, 03 Nov 2011, 7:41 AM EDT
By Tim Skubick | FOX 2 Political Consultant
(WJBK | myFOXDetroit.com) - Well that didn’t take long. The afterglow of Michigan being ranked No. 2 in the nation in economic health lasted less than 24 hours as Detroit Mayor Dave Bing went public with the bad news that his city might be headed for bankruptcy and an Emergency Manager might be required to avert that.
Put the champagne back in the bottle.
The last thing Gov. Rick Snyder wants is his largest city swimming in red ink. The national headlines and the predictable jokes from the late-night comedians would be so counterproductive to Snyder's goal of turning around Motown.
Yet, the Bing was telling the media there is a $150 million gap in the budget and the city could run out of money by February. So will Synder step in?
Take this to the bank: The governor will not unilaterally pull the trigger on an Emergency Manager unless the Bings pulls it first. Under the new law, Bing must file a request with the state treasurer for a review of the books. Andy Dillon is no stranger to the financial challenges in the Motor City. After his review, then the decision on the need for an EM would be rendered by the governor.
In the meantime, City Council President Charles Pugh says there is no need for an outsider, even if it is Mayor Bing himself, to run the city.
What’s really going on here is pretty clear. The mayor is rattling his saber and hoping all of his unions hear it. So far he’s been unable to secure enough union concessions to help balance the books. An EM could do that with a stroke of a pen which is why labor unions are trying to block this new law with a petition drive and a possibile vote of the entire state.
Perhaps Bing figures if he threatens all this, the unions will give him what he wants.
Either way, all this back and forth only underscores how fragile Michigan’s economic situation is despite that glowing report from the Bloomberg News folks that the state is on the comeback trail.
The trail will go over the cliff if the Detroit mess is not resolved one way or the other.
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