6:43 PM: So that's that. Kudos to the Regional Chamber, Henderson, and Finley for the wide-open format. I wish the candidates hadn't played things close to the vest, but that's what happens in early debates.
Kind of a missed opportunity: No on asked if the candidates are cool working weekends. Apparently, that's a big part of the job.
If you're looking for a winner, there was no stand-out candidate tonight ,but maybe give the night to Duggan. It's clear he's the candidate the other candidates are focused on, especially when they had an opportunity to ask each other questions and Durhal and Howze directed their queries to Duggan. Napoleon only questioned Durhal it seemed because his Duggan question had already been asked. Plus Duggan's answer to the 100-days answers was technically solid.
Whoever the next mayor is, what's important in that Detroit cannot go backward, it must go forwards. Upwards, not downwards. And always twirling, twirling, twirling toward freedom.
Live blogging returns in the morning. Right now, there's talk of free bourbon somewhere. Later.
6:33 PM: Closing statements: Napoleon says Detroit needs tough leadership and that's what he does. Howze says Detroit's done it "their way" referring to her opponents, but it's time to do it her way because she can count. You know, as an accountant. Durhal thanks everyone for participating and then says he's respected in Detroit, in Lansing, and in Washington. Duggan's closing is Dick Vermeil-like. He says it was tough to leave the DMC but he felt called to serve.
6:29 PM: Napoleon ask Durhal how he plans to win? Durhal says he's going to take his campaign to the people! Why didn't anyone else ever think of that before. Durhal says he's as good or better than any other candidate.
6:27 PM: Howze asks Duggan; When things got hot at Team McNamara, you got out...DMC shenanigans...EAA loan, how can Detroit trust you to stick and stay. Duggan says he was Deputy County Exec for 14-years and spent nine-years at DMC. He says he was just one of 11 EAA board member but as a mayoral candidate he became a liability to EAA and that's why I left.
6:24 PM: Durhal asks Duggan: You call yourself the turnaround person...what is you would do in the first 100 days as mayor. Duggan says: 1. cut police response time, 2. turn streelights on, 3. go after abandoned property owners.
6:22 PM: Duggan asks Howze to explain her Kickstart program. "It addresses what needs to be down on the local level...about how we allocate grant funding." It also would have the state withhold city income tax.
6:20 PM: Howze says when you shake out the city's debt all of that $14B in long-term obligation works out to just $2.1B in debt that isn't tied to a repayment source. $2.1B, is that all? Here, Detroit, just put that on my Discover card.
6:18 PM: Duggan likes to talk about being prosecutor (for nearly a full term) like Lisa Howze likes to talk about being a CPA. He says his office worked well with police department to better prosecute homicides. Nolan Finley: Mike, you and Benny seem to have a bigger bromance than me and Stephen.
6:15 PM: Lisa Howze wants to reverse population loss, get back to million person city. She wants to expand downtown/midtown energy to neighborhoods and retain young singles as they form families. Durhal says you need to balance budgets first and that government is not like a private business when it could to budgets.
6:12 PM: Napoleon says federal consent oversight of police department when he was police chief was the result of long-standing issues with jails but not problem with his department. Henderson: That's the second time you've said, if I have more money I could fix it.
6:11 PM: Duggan says DMC's finances were hunky dory. He says the kickback thing is complicated and lots of gray area, civil issue as opposed to criminal. DMC paid fines to avoid an investigation so they could close the Vanguard deal. Howze says the words anti-kickback "are what they are." Duggan says they were at best "technical violations." If feds spent the year investigating, DMC would've been exonerated but they needed to close Vanguard. I guess we'll never know.
6:07 PM: Hey, this is crazy but did you know that Lisa Howze was a certified public accountant? She also says that Duggan kept DMC afloat by the skin of its teeth until Vanguard and that DMC paid $30M in anti-kickback fines.
6:05 PM: Nolan Finley: You have quite an entourage yourself, Benny. And then: Say what you will about Dave Bing, he did return integrity to the office. That was the first applause line of the event. Napoleon says he's clean. When problems arose, he welcomed the feds investigating his shop. "We put people in jail."
6:04 PM: Duggan: I remember with Ed McNamara, they remember your mistakes more than the remember your accomplishments. Gen. Turgidson feels the same way.
6:02 PM: Stephen Henderson: That wasn't really an answer.
6:01 PM: Duggan is asked if he would bring the taint of Wayne County cronyism to CAYMAC. He says his teams are always strong, citing Warren Evans, Portia Robertson, and Conrad Mallet as examples.
5:58 PM: Howze says community-based entrepreneurship is essential to rebuilding neighborhoods. Napoleon wants to assign a police officer to be responsible for every square mile in the city.
5:57 PM: Durhal wants Quicken to create a mortgage product based on "ability to pay" rather than, well, credit scores. The way he proposes to do that is turning 30-year fixed mortgages into 40-year mortgages to lower monthly rates payments. Remember how awesome that was working in like 2005? Yeah.
5:55 PM: There's no Dan Gilbert in the neighborhoods says Finley. He wants to know what Durhal would do about that. He says leaders must teach people "how to live" without trashing their communities. He also supports tougher anti-scrapping laws and building partnerships with Habitat for Humanity.
5:53 PM: Napoleon says Detroit needs to focus on core services like public safety, partner to non-government organizations to handle other functions and then 86 anything left over.
5:51 PM: Benny Napoleon on the DIA: If Belle Isle and the Water Dept., then why shouldn't the DIA be on the table. Duggan says no one put any of those things on the table for sale. Duggan really likes to talk about fixing the DMC's fiscal problems. He's like Cotton Hill talking about killing fitty men in WWII.
5:49 PM: Oh it's on now. Howze just said CPA licensing test is more difficult than bar exam. Says her CPA makes her only budget expert running.
5:47 PM: Duggan says Detroit's long-term debt includes $6B in employee health care cost. He says city can negotiate costs with employee, improve more efficient services, and take advantage of Obamacare exchange savings to lower that debt.
5:46 PM: Howze challenges Napoleon on his number of employees. Napoleon takes issue the reported number of appointees in his office, says Howze may be an accountant but she can't count.
5:43 PM: Citing a program in Baltimore, Howze says Detroit needs more security camera and surveillance. Durhal says that all fine and good, but the budget must be fixed first.
5:41 PM: Napoleon says repopulating Detroit is an issue of safety and education. Howze quips that Napoleon should focus on that as Wayne County sheriff.
5:40 PM: Duggan says Detroit can't demolish its way out of its abandoned home problem. He says delinquent property owners need to be taken to task and forced to improve their properties or deed them to the city or some other entity that will improve the property.
5:36 PM: The candidate are taking the stage. In order of introduction: Durhal, Duggan, Howze, Napoleon. Nolan Finley and Stephen Henderson are moderating. Finley says the format will be more of a conversation than a Q&A debate. No timers and opportunities for candidates to talk to each other. That's the best way to debate.
5:27 PM: Even conference attendees had to pay extra to attend the mayoral debate, but we'll take you there--in live blog form--for free. In about five minutes, we'll find out if Mike Duggan's ascension as mayor really is a fate accompli, if Benny Napoleon can like Jerry Cavanaugh and Coleman Young before him upset a formidable favorite, if Liza Howze has the stuff to be Detroit's first female mayor, or if Fred Durhal will like a late-charging horse break on the outside down the stretch and shock the world. Ok, that last one isn't likely to happen but we like to build-up the drama.
