January 6, 2009
To: Ms. Agnes Hitchcock , Chairperson – Call Em Out
Helen Moore , Chairperson – Keep the Vote
Richard Harrison, Radio Talk Show Host – WHPR
Dear Fellow Activists,
I first want to thank you for taking the time to meet with me and for hearing what I had to say. Since our discussions, I have given a lot of thought to what you said and I felt it important that I respond to you directly: Thus, I am writing this letter. The written word has the unfortunate problem with difficulty in conveying the nuances of tone. For that reason, I want to say preliminarily that I respect you and the organizations that I have supported for so long. That said, I am having great difficulty with what I see happening in this Mayor’s race.
I find myself struggling, as I engage in this process, for the reason that it seems the very people that I have sacrificed so much time and energy to help have chosen to disregard all of the work that I have done over the years, in and for this community. Specifically, as one of the founding members of the legal team that fought for many years, without pay, to return our right to vote for school board, I am appalled that I sit in the same forum as the person who chaired the “deform” school board, and no one seems to recall that. Though we were never allowed a place at the table when he had the ability to provide one, and were tossed out of public meetings at his direction, we invite him and others (who have done little or nothing for the community) to our table. We listen to them make promises that we should know they will not keep: They never have.
What is it that we are teaching elected and appointed officials? Is it acceptable to disrespect us, to do nothing to assist those in need in our community, to give away the city’s assets? What is it that the organization is telling me: Is it that no matter what I do, it will never be enough; that it will be forgotten as soon as it is done?
There is no argument about one thing: I am the only candidate that has supported the community with acts and not un-kept promises. My most vivid memory of the school case is the nights that I stayed awake all night watching the legislative tapes of the debates on the takeover, and then drafting the questions for the depositions of the deform superintendent and the finance director.
Then, there were the months of legal work for the NAACP when the national organization tried to take our charter and close us down because we were too “radical.” I handled that case alone and stopped the loss of our oldest and most revered civil rights organization. My friend and supporter, JoAnn Watson, often talks about those days and how close we came to losing the Detroit Branch. My representation of the NAACP was the final straw in my relationship with members of my firm, who were not pleased that I spent so much uncompensated time on the case. Again, I did not send a bill to the NAACP. From the early days of my fights as Chair of the Fair Share Committee with General Motors to protect the minority suppliers, to the grueling work on the auto insurance redlining case that the NAACP filed, I worked tirelessly — without pay — for our community.
My activism did not stop with free legal work. I worked with children in an Adopt-a-Family program that I started when I was with the prosecutor’s office and did the study that showed that people of color were charged more harshly than others. You will recall I am sure that front page stories were written about me dropping felony charges against a young man with no prior record who went on the get his degree from Howard. He never should have been charged with a felony in the first place and when I discovered it, I reversed the decision made by a prosecutor who reported to me. I also created the “no drop” domestic violence program to protect women from abuse and I did the first study that supported the need to require residency for all police officers, as a condition of employment.
In every position I have held, not only have I done my job in a manner that helped the community, I have reached outside of that job to use resources for the benefit of our community.
On the City Council, I created the One Night Shelter and for five years I built the program to a point where we housed the homeless in 150 churches for the entire winter. I started the process, later continued by the administration, of east and west side parties for the children on Halloween, to keep them safe from what might happen if they were out in the streets. And, I was the lawyer who negotiated the low power agreement for WHPR (again, without charge) and, many times, stopped Detroit Edison from turning off the lights at the station.
I co-sponsored the anti-predatory lending ordinance with Maryann Mahaffey, wrote the new ethics ordinance, led the fight against the salt mines in Southwest Detroit and took on the adult entertainment industry: I wrote the new ordinance that has resulted in more than 40 percent of the strip clubs closing down, among other things. Every effort was a huge fight, challenged daily at that table by certain Council members who themselves never wrote an ordinance or sponsored a program.
With the exception of Coleman Young, Jr., there is no candidate in this race who even suggests that he would do anything similar to the programs that I created.
Unlike many, I actually approved of and enjoyed the first of the Call ‘Em Out forums where the candidates listened to the people. I thought it was appropriate. However, two members of the panel misrepresented my record as co-sponsor of the Council Housing Task Force and my focused work in Southwest Detroit ... Perhaps it was unintentional, but it was very disturbing to me. As I first said in the 1993 Mayor’s race, in order to determine where a person will take you, it is critical to examine where he or she has been.
You do not need to imagine where I am on the water department takeover; I fought it as a member of Council. I opposed every attempt to take over Cobo Hall and other city jewels. Promises by those who took no stand against these issues are just that, promises made to get votes. Nothing stopped any of them from joining in our fights to prevent the takeovers. Why would you believe that they will do in the future what they did not do in the past?
Finally, I would like to take you back to the last Mayor’s race to address the concerns of some people that I supported and/or “went to work” for the Mayor. Again, it is important to recall the situation with which I was faced in 2005. I had lost the primary. My supporters, for whatever reason, did not vote in the primary and, as a result, our choices were Kwame Kilpatrick or Freman Hendrix. While the activist organizations did not “love” Mayor Kilpatrick, they flatly refused to support Hendrix. Hendrix stood for everything that the activist community had fought against.
The polling research showed that 80 percent of my supporters would vote for the candidate that I recommended. Hendrix, after the primary election, was 38 points ahead of the Mayor in all of the polls. If nothing extraordinary happened, Hendrix would have won. It was a difficult decision (whether to stay out of it or support one of the candidates) but, ultimately, I felt that Kilpatrick’s plans would provide some benefit to the community and that Hendrix was more interested in “being” the Mayor than in protecting the community.
After the election, the Mayor asked me to join the administration. I spoke to him at length about our differences and the things that I would want to do if I joined his administration. His commitment to me was that I would be allowed to pursue the creation of job training and opportunities for Detroiters through the management of the Workforce Development and Human Rights Departments. He kept that commitment. Whatever else may have been happening, he never reversed a single decision that I made, including taking the funding away from organizations that did not perform and using those dollars to create the Career Centers for Medical and Retail/Hospitality degrees.
Detroit graduated our first class of LPN’s (Licensed Practical Nurses) several weeks ago: They were Detroiters who had, never before, been given a real chance. I was also responsible for creating the 2007-1 Executive Order (“EO”) which requires a minimum of 51 percent of jobs to go to Detroit residents. I in-sourced all of the jobs that once were outsourced by another administration and I created opportunity for promotion and pay raises for our lowest-paid current employees.
Of course, I could have declined to work in the administration. Had I done so, today we would not have the Career Centers, nor would we have EO 2007-1. Moreover while I did not agree with every decision made by the Mayor, the fact that I was there gave us a seat at the table and I was able to make the activist arguments. During the past three years, I earned and wore proudly the title of cabinet “social worker,” which is what some of the members of the cabinet called me when I made the arguments on behalf of the community.
In the life of the lawyer, taking activist positions does not come without consequences. I have paid dearly for the positions that I have taken in support of our community … the impact of the attacks on me personally was only tolerable because I knew that I was doing the right thing.
I am the only person ever endorsed for Mayor by the late Mayor Coleman A. Young, Sr., and I was also endorsed by our own Council President, the late Maryann Mahaffey. In this race, Council Member Watson supports me. These activist icons would not endorse anyone lightly.
I could go on-and-on, listing the things that I have done to further the cause of equality of opportunity for Detroiters but I won’t do that. I mentioned a few in this letter, not to get credit but because I took such pride in our work. My dedication was about a real passion for what was right.
This election will determine whether Detroit remains an independent Home Rule City or becomes a voiceless part of a regional takeover. The real activist community can and should weigh in on that decision with a resounding show of support for a candidate who has proven her commitment over many years and has both the experience and the training to do the job for Detroit.
Sincerely,
Sharon McPhail
Candidate for Mayor
To: Ms. Agnes Hitchcock , Chairperson – Call Em Out
Helen Moore , Chairperson – Keep the Vote
Richard Harrison, Radio Talk Show Host – WHPR
Dear Fellow Activists,
I first want to thank you for taking the time to meet with me and for hearing what I had to say. Since our discussions, I have given a lot of thought to what you said and I felt it important that I respond to you directly: Thus, I am writing this letter. The written word has the unfortunate problem with difficulty in conveying the nuances of tone. For that reason, I want to say preliminarily that I respect you and the organizations that I have supported for so long. That said, I am having great difficulty with what I see happening in this Mayor’s race.
I find myself struggling, as I engage in this process, for the reason that it seems the very people that I have sacrificed so much time and energy to help have chosen to disregard all of the work that I have done over the years, in and for this community. Specifically, as one of the founding members of the legal team that fought for many years, without pay, to return our right to vote for school board, I am appalled that I sit in the same forum as the person who chaired the “deform” school board, and no one seems to recall that. Though we were never allowed a place at the table when he had the ability to provide one, and were tossed out of public meetings at his direction, we invite him and others (who have done little or nothing for the community) to our table. We listen to them make promises that we should know they will not keep: They never have.
What is it that we are teaching elected and appointed officials? Is it acceptable to disrespect us, to do nothing to assist those in need in our community, to give away the city’s assets? What is it that the organization is telling me: Is it that no matter what I do, it will never be enough; that it will be forgotten as soon as it is done?
There is no argument about one thing: I am the only candidate that has supported the community with acts and not un-kept promises. My most vivid memory of the school case is the nights that I stayed awake all night watching the legislative tapes of the debates on the takeover, and then drafting the questions for the depositions of the deform superintendent and the finance director.
Then, there were the months of legal work for the NAACP when the national organization tried to take our charter and close us down because we were too “radical.” I handled that case alone and stopped the loss of our oldest and most revered civil rights organization. My friend and supporter, JoAnn Watson, often talks about those days and how close we came to losing the Detroit Branch. My representation of the NAACP was the final straw in my relationship with members of my firm, who were not pleased that I spent so much uncompensated time on the case. Again, I did not send a bill to the NAACP. From the early days of my fights as Chair of the Fair Share Committee with General Motors to protect the minority suppliers, to the grueling work on the auto insurance redlining case that the NAACP filed, I worked tirelessly — without pay — for our community.
My activism did not stop with free legal work. I worked with children in an Adopt-a-Family program that I started when I was with the prosecutor’s office and did the study that showed that people of color were charged more harshly than others. You will recall I am sure that front page stories were written about me dropping felony charges against a young man with no prior record who went on the get his degree from Howard. He never should have been charged with a felony in the first place and when I discovered it, I reversed the decision made by a prosecutor who reported to me. I also created the “no drop” domestic violence program to protect women from abuse and I did the first study that supported the need to require residency for all police officers, as a condition of employment.
In every position I have held, not only have I done my job in a manner that helped the community, I have reached outside of that job to use resources for the benefit of our community.
On the City Council, I created the One Night Shelter and for five years I built the program to a point where we housed the homeless in 150 churches for the entire winter. I started the process, later continued by the administration, of east and west side parties for the children on Halloween, to keep them safe from what might happen if they were out in the streets. And, I was the lawyer who negotiated the low power agreement for WHPR (again, without charge) and, many times, stopped Detroit Edison from turning off the lights at the station.
I co-sponsored the anti-predatory lending ordinance with Maryann Mahaffey, wrote the new ethics ordinance, led the fight against the salt mines in Southwest Detroit and took on the adult entertainment industry: I wrote the new ordinance that has resulted in more than 40 percent of the strip clubs closing down, among other things. Every effort was a huge fight, challenged daily at that table by certain Council members who themselves never wrote an ordinance or sponsored a program.
With the exception of Coleman Young, Jr., there is no candidate in this race who even suggests that he would do anything similar to the programs that I created.
Unlike many, I actually approved of and enjoyed the first of the Call ‘Em Out forums where the candidates listened to the people. I thought it was appropriate. However, two members of the panel misrepresented my record as co-sponsor of the Council Housing Task Force and my focused work in Southwest Detroit ... Perhaps it was unintentional, but it was very disturbing to me. As I first said in the 1993 Mayor’s race, in order to determine where a person will take you, it is critical to examine where he or she has been.
You do not need to imagine where I am on the water department takeover; I fought it as a member of Council. I opposed every attempt to take over Cobo Hall and other city jewels. Promises by those who took no stand against these issues are just that, promises made to get votes. Nothing stopped any of them from joining in our fights to prevent the takeovers. Why would you believe that they will do in the future what they did not do in the past?
Finally, I would like to take you back to the last Mayor’s race to address the concerns of some people that I supported and/or “went to work” for the Mayor. Again, it is important to recall the situation with which I was faced in 2005. I had lost the primary. My supporters, for whatever reason, did not vote in the primary and, as a result, our choices were Kwame Kilpatrick or Freman Hendrix. While the activist organizations did not “love” Mayor Kilpatrick, they flatly refused to support Hendrix. Hendrix stood for everything that the activist community had fought against.
The polling research showed that 80 percent of my supporters would vote for the candidate that I recommended. Hendrix, after the primary election, was 38 points ahead of the Mayor in all of the polls. If nothing extraordinary happened, Hendrix would have won. It was a difficult decision (whether to stay out of it or support one of the candidates) but, ultimately, I felt that Kilpatrick’s plans would provide some benefit to the community and that Hendrix was more interested in “being” the Mayor than in protecting the community.
After the election, the Mayor asked me to join the administration. I spoke to him at length about our differences and the things that I would want to do if I joined his administration. His commitment to me was that I would be allowed to pursue the creation of job training and opportunities for Detroiters through the management of the Workforce Development and Human Rights Departments. He kept that commitment. Whatever else may have been happening, he never reversed a single decision that I made, including taking the funding away from organizations that did not perform and using those dollars to create the Career Centers for Medical and Retail/Hospitality degrees.
Detroit graduated our first class of LPN’s (Licensed Practical Nurses) several weeks ago: They were Detroiters who had, never before, been given a real chance. I was also responsible for creating the 2007-1 Executive Order (“EO”) which requires a minimum of 51 percent of jobs to go to Detroit residents. I in-sourced all of the jobs that once were outsourced by another administration and I created opportunity for promotion and pay raises for our lowest-paid current employees.
Of course, I could have declined to work in the administration. Had I done so, today we would not have the Career Centers, nor would we have EO 2007-1. Moreover while I did not agree with every decision made by the Mayor, the fact that I was there gave us a seat at the table and I was able to make the activist arguments. During the past three years, I earned and wore proudly the title of cabinet “social worker,” which is what some of the members of the cabinet called me when I made the arguments on behalf of the community.
In the life of the lawyer, taking activist positions does not come without consequences. I have paid dearly for the positions that I have taken in support of our community … the impact of the attacks on me personally was only tolerable because I knew that I was doing the right thing.
I am the only person ever endorsed for Mayor by the late Mayor Coleman A. Young, Sr., and I was also endorsed by our own Council President, the late Maryann Mahaffey. In this race, Council Member Watson supports me. These activist icons would not endorse anyone lightly.
I could go on-and-on, listing the things that I have done to further the cause of equality of opportunity for Detroiters but I won’t do that. I mentioned a few in this letter, not to get credit but because I took such pride in our work. My dedication was about a real passion for what was right.
This election will determine whether Detroit remains an independent Home Rule City or becomes a voiceless part of a regional takeover. The real activist community can and should weigh in on that decision with a resounding show of support for a candidate who has proven her commitment over many years and has both the experience and the training to do the job for Detroit.
Sincerely,
Sharon McPhail
Candidate for Mayor
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment