Candidate Disclosure in Detroit Becomes a Political Football

What's the best reason for mayoral candidates not to disclose their finances, monies received directly or indirectly from the city, etc.? Just ask some of the candidates running to replace disgraced Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. According to an article in today's Detroit Free Press, candidate Dave Bing has made full disclosure of his and his wife's finances, including stock in a development company involved in a condo project in Detroit (which he says he is trying to divest, supposedly at a substantial loss) and a tax abatement one of his companies received a couple of administrations ago.

His 14 rivals "dismissed the move as a gimmick."

The campaign manager for the acting mayor said that his candidate "is more concerned with righting the city's finances, making our neighborhoods safer and creating a climate for economic growth and job development." According to another Free Press article, he also said, through a spokesman, ""If Mr. Bing is aware of any conflicts that any candidate has, the mayor encourages him to disclose that. Other than that, we should stop playing games." Unlike many other candidates, the mayor will not respond with his own financial disclosure.

A former deputy mayor and current mayoral candidate said that he "believes Detroit voters are interested in everyday issues affecting voters." And "This is nothing but a weapon of mass distraction.... When the candidate has not articulated a plan, you change the subject." And then when the disclosure was made, he changed his tune and said it wasn't enough. He "called for the release of all finances, including loans, pension fund investments into candidates' businesses and the status of those deals. ... 'If [Bing's] business benefited from the owner's relationship to the city, then anything less than full disclosure does not give the public a clear picture.'" He will soon be making disclosure himself, although apparently he owns no business.

Financial disclosure has become a political football in Detroit, which is inappropriate, since Dave Bing was a professional basketball player. This is what happens when there are no disclosure requirements on the books. Right now, the one making the most disclosure is the only one being attacked for not making disclosures about his businesses. You make transparency an issue, and you open up a can of worms. Candidate disclosure requirements protect those who believe in transparency and prevent those who do not from setting the goalpost (or is the basket?) too high for others.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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