by
Robert Ficano, who not all that long ago was a dead-man-walking in the political world, announced Monday evening that he'll run for a fourth term.
Joined by union brotherhood and other supporters at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 58 in Detroit, he laid out his vision for the future, Fox 2 reported.
“The No. 1 key for me has always been jobs and economic growth,” Ficano said. “We are going to continue on and we are going to be successful.” He told Fox 2 that he's done nothing improper during his reign as county executive.
In another interesting development, ex-Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans filed to run for county executive in what has become a crowded field. Mayor Dave Bing fired Evans as Detroit Police chief in 2010.
His administration mired in scandal, many observers figured a while back that Ficano was finished and would not run for re-election. At the height of the scandal, when people in the administration were being indicted, someone in his administration told Deadline Detroit that Ficano wanted to stay in office to save face, but wasn't likely to run.
The U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI have been investigating his office. So far, according to sources, the feds have not found anything to link Ficano to wrong doing, but the probe into the administration is continuing.
Last July, in an interview with Deadline Detroit, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade answered questions about Ficano.
Deadline Detroit: I noticed in the paper that former U.S. Attorney Jeff Collins, who works for Bob Ficano, has asked you for a letter for Ficano saying he’s not a target of the investigation. Apparently he’s not gotten one. Is there a reason not to issue a letter?
McQuade: I don’t want to comment on that other than we are investigating all aspects of Wayne County and we don’t know yet where the evidence may lead us. So people should not infer anything positive or negative from that.
Ficano has had some public spats with Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who has complained that her budget has been cut to the bone, making it difficult to effectively do her job.
Lately, there had been some indication that Ficano political fortunes had stabilized and he was seriously considering re-election.
