Quirky Fouts doesn't disappoint at State of the City

Attending a Jim Fouts State of the City address is always an adventure, as the Warren mayor bounces from subject to subject and shares his opinions on a wide array of matters that extend far beyond the city’s borders.

It's sort of a Foutsian Festivus.

Wednesday’s speech was all that and more. The mayor spoke for well over an hour and, even before he got started, things got interesting.

A pastor who appeared on stage to give the invocation (nobody seems to know who he was) told a truly tasteless joke before offering a prayer.

The joke went something like this: Fouts is always ready to help any constituent. He recently passed along to a woman the advice that a priest once gave to a married woman. This woman was battered and bruised on a regular basis by her drunken husband. The priest advised her that, the next time her husband comes home under the influence, pour some water in her mouth but don’t swallow it until he falls asleep. A few weeks later the woman visited the priest and her appearance and demeanor indicated that the beatings had stopped. She expressed amazement that the water did the trick. It’s not the water that does it, the priest responded, it’s keeping your mouth shut.

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Fouts was introduced to the huge luncheon crowd by Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel. The Fouts team apparently gave Hackel a two-page bio on the mayor to read but the executive tossed it aside.  Hackel offered very brief remarks, schmoozing the mayor by praising his responsiveness to constituents and fellow officials. “When it comes to your mayor, I feel like I work for him,” the executive said.

When he took his place at the podium, Fouts returned the compliment. “He (Hackel) always responds, and as governor, he will respond even better.”

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Fouts made little effort to hide his disdain for Campbell Ewald and their decision to leave town and relocate in downtown Detroit. He recounted for the audience in detail the case he made for Warren, in comparison to Detroit, to a Campbell Ewald top executive. Lower taxes, less crime, etc. But Fouts also took the move as a personal affront. The quirky mayor pointed out a poll that found 37 percent of Detroit voters support Mike Duggan for mayor in the November election, 20 percent support Benny Napoleon, only 8 percent back incumbent Mayor Dave Bing and just behind Bing, at 6 percent, is Krystal Crittendon, “a relative unknown,” Fouts noted.

In comparison to Bing’s 8 percent, Fouts, as he’s very fond of saying – and he reminded the crowd again -- won re-election in 2011 with 81 percent of the vote.

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Referring to federal funding the city has secured, he gave a thumbs up to 81-year-old Congressman Sandy Levin and his brother, Sen. Carl Levin.

“Sandy, don’t you ever retire. We need you. And I’m going to try to get his brother to change his mind” about retiring, Fouts said. Calling Levin the greatest senator in Michigan history, Fouts said the field of potential candidates for the 2014 vacancy – Democrats and Republicans – don’t measure up to the incumbent. “I am sending an open request (a letter) to Sen. Levin: Please do not retire.”

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Fouts routinely engages in hyperbole in these speeches, so a little fact-checking is always necessary. Citing the millages passed by Warren voters in 2010, 2011 and 2012, the eccentric mayor remarked: “Three successes in three years – unheard of.” Someone should remind the mayor that the nearby Utica school district previously went decades without losing a millage election. Fouts also trumpeted his plan to repair residential streets, calling it the first major road improvements since Warren became a city in the 1950s. Again, someone should remind the mayor that the extension of I-696, which created a massive construction zone across the entire city, dwarfed anything that City Hall has on its plate.

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Fouts certainly has an army of critics but he does demonstrate political courage and he is deeply loyal to his top administrators. Near the end of his speech he heaped praise on Gus Ghanam, even though Ghanam is under a federal investigation for alleged corruption at the city Public Services Department.

Knowing that many in the audience would be thinking about Ghanam’s legal problems, the mayor called him a “go-to guy” and urged the crowd to give him sustained applause. “When you need to get something done, you go to Gus Ghanam,” Fouts said.