Mayor Dave Bing may have surprised quite a few folks Tuesday when he said he may consider running for Wayne County executive.
Why? Is he really serious?
But another pressing question is, like the title of the Bill Murray-Richard Dreyfuss movie asks: "What About Bob?"
Will Bob Ficano run for re-election as county executive in 2014?
Joel Kurth of the Detroit News writes:
For months, the embattled executive has been coy about whether he'd seek a fourth four-year term, brushing off reporters by telling them any decision is a long way away. Privately, he's told supporters he intends to run despite an FBI investigation into his administration, three county officials told The Detroit News.
"I assume he's going to run, even if I don't understand it," said Commissioner Kevin McNamara, D-Belleville, the son of the late Ed McNamara, the former county executive. Kevin McNamara has raised about $100,000 and expects to decide in December if he'll challenge Ficano.
"I don't see a path there of how he could win unless there was an extremely crowded field. He's been hit so hard too many times and made too many mistakes," McNamara said.
A staff member of his privately told Deadline Detroit last year as the FBI probe into the county heated up that he wasn't going to run, but he wanted to finish up his term to save face.
Kurth notes that Ficano's political action committee was the richest among state officeholders in 2009-10, and that it has raised just $81.80 since October. He had about $332,000 in his campaign committee on Dec. 31, the most recent reports available say, according to the News.
Ficano's spokeswoman, June West told the News that Ficano is focused on running Wayne County. Hard to read into that.
