New Public Trust: Week 5 of the Occupation

It is past time for the Detroit City Council to rethink its role under occupation. Their most recent vote to approve the no-bid contract for the Jones Day law firm is one more indication that the Council has no moral compass. Even Detroit’s most consistent voice of the business community, Crain’s, acknowledged the conflict of interest inherent in the city hiring the former law firm of the current Emergency Manager.

In a forceful editorial Crain’s said:

“Detroit's top attorney told the City Council last week that there is no conflict of interest in giving what is surely a multimillion-dollar contract to the Jones Day law firm. 

We beg to disagree. 

Until last month, Detroit's new emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, was a Jones Day partner. Yes, technically, he resigned and surrendered his partnership to take the Detroit job. 

But awarding the contract will absolutely reinforce a pervasive suspicion in Detroit that rules exist for ‘other people’ -- not the well-intentioned power brokers trying to put Detroit back together.”

Instead of wondering how to please their new Manager, the City Council should take a lesson from the Detroit School Board in exile. Often without any formal authority and constantly under attack, the elected Detroit School Board has consistently raised important questions about the protection and development of our children within the public schools. They have turned the spotlight on the dictatorial, short sighted, and detrimental decision making of Roy Roberts and his predecessor Robert Bobb. They have mounted court challenges and held public meetings. They have invited open comments at regular sessions. They have challenged decisions and offered alternatives. They have not worried about their paycheck. As a result, they have been developing a new political space for people to come together and challenge some of the most destructive efforts to turn the education of our children into new profit centers for corporations.