Vicki Barnett
Vicki Barnett
The Detroit Free Press editorial page says its time for a change in leadership in Oakland County.
The paper is passing on endorsing incumbent, Republican Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, 77, who is seeking a seventh term. Instead, it's backing Democrat Vicki Barnett, 62, former mayor of Farmington Hills who served three terms in the state House of Representatives, ending as Minority Whip for the 2012-14 term.
The editorial says:
She earns the Free Press endorsement for her clear vision of where Oakland County has been and where it’s headed, and for the bright contrasts her leadership would draw in comparison with Patterson.
Barnett proposes to shift more of her county's resources and attention to mass transit, while de-emphasizing Patterson’s short-sighted, community-killing initiative to widen I-75, The latter, she argues, reflects a backward-looking approach to planning and development.
Instead, Barnett would concentrate transit resources along the county’s primary spine, Woodward Avenue, where it can help boost economies in cities like Ferndale, Royal Oak, Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills.
The paper has good and bad to say about Patterson.
For more than two decades, leadership in the county has been synonymous with L. Brooks Patterson, the bombastic and combative executive who unabashedly pushes an “Oakland First” agenda. Patterson’s outstanding team of department heads (led by financial wiz Bob Daddow, whose expertise is in demand and has been available to communities statewide) have helped him make Oakland one of the nation's leaders in municipal governance. It’s praised by Wall Street for its financial soundness and heralded by peers for its efficient use of taxpayer dollars and digital technology.
But Patterson is also distinguished by his rough edges — his flip and frequently offensive comments about Detroit, his Trumpian vilification of refugees fleeing war-torn Syria, his coolness to mass transit and, of course, his historical opposition to school desegregation in Detroit, which launched his political career in the 1970s. These demagogic outbursts have always been problematic. But they have grown more frequent in recent years, prompting many to wonder whether Oakland's longtime executive is son is still the right fit for his diverse and dynamic county..
