Detroit needs a new mayor for sure, to replace the unfocused, ethically-challenged Kwame Kilpatrick. No question about that. This story tells me that one of Kilpatrick's challengers, City Councilwoman Sharon McPhail, is thinking big; as in Big Government.

Detroit City Councilwoman Sharon McPhail said Thursday that if she is elected mayor, she would appoint a population czar to reverse residents' flight from the city.

Standing at the city's southeastern border with Grosse Pointe Park, McPhail and her running mate, former Detroit Police Chief Benny Napoleon, said they would help their czar by making the city safer, eliminating the drug trade, providing a free college education for every Detroit high school graduate and lowering taxes and insurance rates....She also has called for creating a city-owned insurance company to lower rates for Detroiters. She said casinos could provide the money needed to create an endowment that would fund the college tuition program.

Eliminate the drug trade in Detroit? Mmmm Hmm. Yep, I'd sure like to hear more about that. And a city-run insurance operation? The city can barely balance its own budget. High insurance rates in Detroit result from rampant crime, social decay and fractured families. I'd like to hear a Detroit mayoral candidate talking about the importance of two-parent households, teacher merit pay, and urban economic development (but not another "African Town" scheme, please).

Freman Hendrix (a former deputy mayor), Kilpatrick, and state Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, also are running for mayor. Voters will eliminate all but two candidates in the Aug. 2 primary.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at June 18, 2005 08:57 AM

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