DETROIT – There is a group of people who believe Detroit needs better leadership and they are not willing to wait until the next election.
On Monday, a group including several of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s foes submitted a petition to recall him. Many say it could be the first step in a long process.
The petition has been filed to recall the mayor by a Detroit resident who claims he actually voted for Duggan in 2017.
Franklin Long believes the mayor stopped working for Detroiters and in fact is now against them.
“I believed in you. You’re a fraud. You’re a crook. You need to be exposed. You can’t threaten me. You can try and threaten me. I am not going anywhere,” he said.
Long’s turning point stems from Detroit’s homelessness. In particular, people forced from their homes because of $600 million in overassessed taxes. He calls it an abusive tax policy.
“It’s sad, we trusted this mayor and this is what he did to us. He refused to give the money back through tax credits,” he said.
Working with Long is well known Duggan critic Detroit businessman Robert Carmack.
“I think we need to remove him as quick as possible and I would put up the money to get rid of him no matter how much it costs. I would raise the money to get rid of him,” said Carmack.
Duggan responded to the accusations.
“I was the one who stopped the over assessments so the over assessments started in 2010. I ran for mayor in 2013. I campaigned against the over assessment all across the city,” said Duggan.
The mayor believes the group is simply against Proposal N that would increase vacant home demolition funding.
“They have been angry since the results came in in 2017 and this is the third time they’ve announced a recall petition,” said Duggan.
On Oct. 27, the election commission is supposed to convene and look at the petition language. If approved, the group gets 60 days to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot.
In the meantime, there are questions about whether they can because the $600 million over assessment came between 2010 and 2015.
Recall law requires offenses to have happened in the current officer’s term.