Log In | Register
DETROIT — Dave Bing made a smooth transition from basketball great to manufacturer and auto supplier. He is looking for a similarly uncomplicated path to becoming Detroit mayor.
With a little more than two months to go before a May 5 runoff for the city's highest elected office, the 65-year-old NBA legend and businessman said he'll work on his game plan as he goes up against incumbent Ken Cockrel Jr.
Despite finishing first with 26,327 votes, or 29 percent, in Tuesday's special nonpartisan mayoral primary, "a lot of work has got to be done," Bing told The Associated Press in an interview.
Cockrel, a former city council president whose roots stretch deep into Detroit's contentious political soil, came in second with 24,665 votes, or 27 percent. Cockrel and Bing, both Democrats, beat out 13 other candidates seeking to complete ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's second term.
Cockrel has had five months of on-the-job training after moving up to the mayor's office from his council post with Kilpatrick's resignation in September. He's been tasked with correcting a budget deficit that could approach $300 million, rampant home foreclosures and unchecked unemployment.
Bing knows that if he is elected, the city will look to him for solutions to the same problems. Part of his plan to save money could include consolidating or axing some city departments. Layoffs also may be considered.
"It's not an easy decision," said Bing, who was responsible for about 500 employees as founder and chair of The Bing Group. While running for mayor, he has turned over The Bing Group to his management team, which includes his daughters, spokesman Cliff Russell said.
Bing still remains chair.
The Bing Group announced this month that a subsidiary, Bing Metals Assembly in Detroit, is closing and will cost about 60 workers their jobs.
"Whether it's business or whether it's politics, you do it with empathy more than anything else," Bing said of layoffs. "But on the other hand, I think you've got to be straight with people. People can understand even though they may not agree with you."
Cockrel has proposed 10-percent pay cuts to city workers and minimal layoffs as part of his plan to reduce the deficit. Bing said Cockrel has taken too long to take action. He expects to make decisions on such issues within 30 to 90 days, if elected.
"We are where we are because nobody was willing to make the hard choices," Bing said. "Are you better off trying to find the cancer, cut it out and save the patient, or do you just let the patient do a slow death? I would prefer to cut the cancer out."
While the city's fiscal troubles did not begin with Kilpatrick and partly can be blamed on the swooning auto industry and national economic malaise, the problems deepened during the Democrat's six-plus years as mayor.
Kilpatrick was released early this month after serving 99 days in jail. He pleaded guilty in September to obstruction of justice and no contest to assault. He admitted he lied during a civil trial to cover up an affair with his chief of staff, with whom he exchanged sexually explicit text messages.
Early in the primary campaign, Bing called on all 15 candidates to make public disclosures of their personal finances. He repeated that challenge Tuesday night to Cockrel.
"To me, it's a non-issue," Cockrel told The Associated Press shortly after the final votes were counted. "Everyone knows Dave Bing is a millionaire. I'm not a millionaire. I don't know how much the city of Detroit can gain from knowing what I lost in my 401(k)."
Cockrel has said Bing's high-profile basketball and business background does not intimidate him. Cockrel has been elected three times to the city council. His late father, Kenneth Cockrel Sr., was a longtime city activist and served on the council.
Bing spent 12 seasons in the NBA after the Detroit Pistons drafted him second overall in 1966 out of Syracuse University. He played nine seasons in Detroit before being traded. He founded Bing Steel in 1980 and was elected to basketball's Hall of Fame in 1990.
