DETROIT – Benny Napoleon ran for mayor of Detroit and lost.
He put in a lot of hours and miles before returning to his day job at Wayne County Sheriff. He admitted he used his county-owned car a lot during the campaign and offered to pay the money back. However, that's all it was -- an offer.
"We do expect him to follow all the laws and enforce them. So, people are not going to be looking at it very favorably if he's not enforcing his own laws," said Wayne County Commissioner Ilona Varga.
The county's Ethics Commission met Wednesday at Napoleon's request and came to this conclusion: "The Sheriff od Wayne County is forbidden by law and ordinance from using his county-supplied vehicle and/or a county-paid employee to attend political campaign events ... the Sheriff is obliged to reimburse Wayne County for the value of his use of those resources during his past campaign."
On Thursday, Wayne County Auditor General Willie Mayo sent a letter to Napoleon looking to collect: "I believe the sheriff should abide by the promise to be guided by the decision reached by the ethics board and reimburse the county in the amount of $18,186, as soon as possible."
"I think he has bad influences around him who accept this as a norm," said Varga.
Napoleon's attorney, Mark Brewer, said what the sheriff did is legal by federal standards, which includes the tax code. Brewer also said the sheriff is being unfairly singled out because sheriffs have run for office all across the state for years using county vehicles and no one ever has been pressed to pay money back such as this.
They are looking for a ruling by the attorney general on whether Napoleon will have to pay.