Detroit Mayor Dave Bing hopes to win the six City Council votes necessary to fire Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon at a 2:00 PM special Council meeting this afternoon.
Crittendon made waves when, over the (albeit 11th hour) objections of Bing, she filed a legal challenge to the city's consent agreement. Last week, Ingham County Circuit Judge William Collette dismissed the case because he said Crittendon's law department had no standing to bring the case without a client.
The lawsuit threatened emergency funding from the state that came with the consent agreement. Administration officials had said, without cash from Lansing, Detroit may have run out of money and possibly miss payroll.
Some Crittendon supporters like City Council President Charles Pugh accused Collette of failing to understand the complex nuances and subtleties of Detroit's charter, but the law department did not appeal so Collette's ruling stands as law.
Following the hearing, Bing asked Crittendon to resign but she refused. The new charter, crafted in the wake of Kilpatrick Administration law department abuses, provides city attorneys with a certain amount of autonomy. The mayor must now win approval from a two-thirds majority of Council (six of nine votes) to remove a corporation counsel.
The Detroit Free Press' Matt Helms writes this morning that Crittendon will likely survive today's vote.
Freep: Bing does not appear likely to prevail. Council President Charles Pugh and a majority of his colleagues have said publicly they supported Crittendon's right to pursue charter violations even if they disagreed with her reasoning.
Crittendon has defended her action as an obligation of the city charter. But credit ratings agencies, citing her lawsuit, downgraded Detroit's bond rating, and the suit tested the patience of the governor's office.
Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins, one of the five Council members to vote to approve the consent agreement, told WDIV that she would not favor letting Crittendon go.
The path to six votes is at best rocky. In addition to Pugh and Jenkins' support for Crittendon, it seems unlikely Joann Watson, Kwame Kenyatta, and Brenda Jones, who no longer participate in consent agreement-related deliberations as a protest, will support axing the corporation counsel for challenging the agreement. Andre Spivey also voted against the consent agreement.
It's entirely possible that, instead of a two-thirds majority in favor of firing Crittendon, today's vote could result in a two-thirds majority in support of the corporation counsel.
