For nerds who're into politics, nothing is more exciting than election season.
The prospect of wild speculation, keeping your eye on the Machiavellian motivations of candidates, and the mighty whirlwind that's known as public sentiment, are all combined into a single moment that will either change lives for the better, or, for the worse.
To those of you readers/listeners who see that sentiment as dramatic or cliche, it'll be stressed by this publication that we aren't simply referring to the public. The path to political office can act as a ladder to elevate a lucky few into the glaring spotlight of media attention, while a bad campaign can label the unlucky masses who fail as "unfit for office".
Yet, as many of you probably know already, we live in a time of profoundly unorthodox politics and have seen our fair share of "out of the ordinary" crop of successful politicians (for example, the current president of Argentina is an "Anarcho-Capitalist" who uses a psychic to talk to his dead dog for economic advice).
Unfortunately for those of us who want a radical shift from the status quo, especially on the municipal level, the powerful few have put their thumbs on the scale by using their vast wealth to make sure that their influence is still felt within our many halls of local government.
Occasionally, in an effort to "throw a bone" to the fickle electorate, a candidate is coronated by the "business community" who keeps them satisfied because of their economic policy while presenting themselves to the public as someone who will help the public make genuine social change.
The subject of this report is Saunteel Jenkins, former member of city council, and the previous CEO of The Heat and Warmth fund. Before we continue, it must be understood by those of you reading/listening about this Mayoral election, no matter if you're a critic, or, fellow Radical, Detroit's financial overlords (Dan Gilbert, the Moroun family, the Ilitches, etc) will only support someone who is "on the Left" in the mayor's office in two scenarios: One, if there's a few Radical candidates to the Left of Sheffield and Jenkins, or, two, internal opinion polls tell the major candidates that Left-populist policies will be popular on the campaign trail (for this reason alone, Black Label Detroit theorizes that this mayoral race will be marked by the least amount of polling that we've seen in the city's modern history).
With this critique in mind, we will say this about Saunteel Jenkins: she is more than likely to be the furthest "left" establishment candidate that the city's financiers will tolerate in office.
This assertion is based on Mrs. Jenkins' own words:
"Do you support new taxes?"
"I am very open to finding new ways for us to better collect
the taxes that we already charge or look at different ways
[to collect taxes]. It 'd take a change in law, but there are
states that allow local cities to levy a sales tax on top of
state sales taxes."
"People outside and inside of the city have more pride
in the direction of the city of Detroit now more than ever.
Do you see the city as a part of a wider ecosystem? And,
if elected, how would you contribute to this ecosystem?
"Every city is a part of an ecosystem, and as mayor, I
will continue to contribute to the ecosystem by being a city
that provides jobs, growing it's people and it's tax base"
(This is a pretty solid answer to the question, it engages the idea that Metro Detroit is a formal ecosystem which needs to have all of it's parts healthy and growing, Sheffield never fielded a question like this during her campaign launch)
"The city has financial obligations due in the near
future during this administration, if elected mayor,
how do you see yourself navigating this situation?
And, do you think that regionalism is the answer?"
"I think Detroit can navigate this situation because we are
in the best financial situation that we've been in, in a very long time.
But there are liabilities that are due at this time that have not
been due in a very long time. The first thing we'd need to do
is understand what our revenues are, what our taxes are,
and what our liabilities are"
(This answer is....... not so good, it completely fails to give a proper analysis of whether or not Detroit is better off in a radically different region via consolidation. Worse than that, it centers itself on austerity urbanist talking people, and, unfortunately, there's more of that in her future responses)
"How are you gonna hit the ground running
to ensure that the city can pay up when one
time federal aid is all used up?"
"I think we've done a great job at restructuring the financial
department, the budget department, and we're better at counting
our dollars, but we really need to understand our revenue and
liabilities and look at what we've created with one time funds
that need to continue, and look at those that we need to make
changes to"
"Are there any vestiges of state management
from your time in office that need to be addressed?"
"I think it's too soon to say right now"
(Any Radical would've easily seen this as this as a set up to talk about the
Financial Review Commission and how it unfairly penalizes the city's government from investing in grand projects. These are the issues that separate Radicals and those who call themselves "Progressives", in order to have a city that is able to meet the needs of it's citizens, institutions like the FRC need to go as well as the politicians who support them)
With these direct quotes in mind, hopefully any potential critic can plainly see that candidate Jenkins is attempting to walk the same fine line that Mary Sheffield is when it comes to attempting to be friendly with the city's powerful interests, the only difference between Jenkins and Sheffield in the fact that she accepts the label of being a "Progressive", despite not using that label to describe herself as such.
We here at Black Label Media encourage the city's voters to try to fully grasp what exactly the mayoral candidates are offering them this year. When someone comes to you as a "Progressive" ask them "Progress towards what?"
Unfortunately this task lays upon you because the city's legacy media will never dare ask any candidates a similar question, if not then than your run of the mill "Progressive" will simply steer the captive public away from radical policies and, instead, derail the prospect of genuine change and replace it with austerity urbanist rhetoric and wasted potential.
The city's future is at stake, it does not need a simple "Progressive" to take the reigns of government, it yearns for a Radical who will empower the people and prioritize their political awakening.
Sources & Links:
1. https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/mileis-medium-vet-who-talks-with-his-dead-dogs-i-understand-many-people-find-it-very-strange.phtml
2. https://thawfund.org/about-us/leadership/
3. https://www.bridgedetroit.com/detroit-mayoral-candidate-would-push-entertainment-tax-to-offset-property-tax-relief/#:~:text=Reports%20from%20the%20Citizens%20Research,need%20to%20pass%20authorizing%20bills.
4. https://www.bridgedetroit.com/opinion-detroit-could-use-incremental-income-tax-revenue-to-lower-property-tax/#:~:text=From%20FY2013%2C%20the%20fiscal%20year,city's%20primary%20sources%20of%20revenue.
5. https://detroitmi.gov/Portals/0/docs/EM/Announcements/Summary_PlanOfAdjustment.pdf
6. https://www.michigan.gov/treasury/local/fiscal-health/detroit-frc
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