Now, some 12 years later, Virg Bernero, Lansing's mayor, finds himself playing the Fieger role. He is a leading man in a cheaply made "B" movie destined to go straight to DVD.
With the Democratic Party on the verge of sinking to the bottom of the barrel, I think it's time that African-Americans supporters jump ship and find themselves a new mode of transportation. In Michigan and throughout the country, African-Americans have been the backbone of the party and its most loyal supporters. Like the orchestra that played on the Titanic, blacks have always gone down with the ship while everyone else is scrambling to find a safety net or a lifeboat. Even in the good times, Africans-Americans still find themselves on the short end of the stick.
Left behind
Remember white Macomb County Democrats in the 1980s? They abandoned the party on a national level and called themselves Ronald Reagan Democrats.
It seems that in every election white unionists vote their conscience and not the leadership's lame agendas.
What about the Blue Dog Democrats in Congress? They vote in the interest of those who elected them. Ask House Speaker Andy Dillon and other right-to-life Democrats why they haven't come and supported the Bernero ticket.
They won't, because they are looking beyond the November election. They are planning to recapture the party if it's still viable after the November slaughter. Everyone who is dissatisfied with the Democratic Party has an alternative plan — except blacks.
We are like sheep led to the slaughter every election cycle, never getting anything but crumbs and Bridge Cards for our undying loyalty.
Party chair problem
Mark Brewer is like one of those California farmers who hires migrant workers to pick their crops. He drives a nice, shining truck into the black community and picks a few preachers, a few consultants and leaves everyone else on the side of the road. Like the farmer, Brewer and the party spend virtually no money in Michigan's black communities.
A prime example of their arrogance is that their coordinated campaign office in Detroit is right next door to WGPR, a popular R&B station. And yet they have not purchased one single radio ad.
And now Brewer wants to inject convicted felon Kwame Kilpatrick into the election. He has been sending out e-mails alleging that the Republican candidate for Attorney General, Bill Schuette, was in bed with Kilpatrick when he served on the Michigan Courts of Appeals. Brewer claimed Schuette had a chance to stamp out corruption but didn't, when the ex-judge ruled in the city of Detroit's favor concerning a lawsuit brought by a police officer.
This weak attempt to inject race in to this election should be the last straw for African-American voters.
It's time to reject the party of the Bridge Card* and take control of our own destiny.
Adolph Mongo is a Detroit political consultant.
* CP Note; The Bridge Card is the MI version of welfare assitence or EBT-Electronic Benefits Transfer
