Why is Robert Ficano not being Kwame'd?

A few years ago there were stories being printed about former Detroit Mayor Kwame Malik Kilpatrick that sold many papers for the local newspapers. There were news reports being introduced as breaking news at 5:00AM, 6:00AM, 7:00AM, Noon, 5:00PM, 5:30PM, 6:00PM, 7:00PM, 10:00PM and 11:00PM leading off channels 2, 4 & 7 newscasts lambasting the man. It seems as if it was all ‘Kwame’; all the time. So much so, many people could just regurgitate almost anything about him without missing a beat thanks to the local media.

Now, as we closed 2011 and are into the second month of 2012, one Robert Ficano finds himself in a similar politcal firestorm. However, you would probably never know it unless you just happened to have picked up a paper from a newsstand or you just happened to be channel surfing and landed on one of the local stations and the news was airing. Is it that Mr. Kilpatrick was so dynamic of a figure and Mr. Ficano about as boring as watching paint dry why the local media is treating his questionable leadership with kid gloves?

I could suggest that there are other reasons, but I will leave that up to the readers to decide. Be that as it may, I humbly ask again; “Why is Robert Ficano not being Kwame’d?”

Where are all of the folks at that were calling for Kwame’s head on a silver platter? Even you Mr. Ficano; you were a part of that mob mentality calling into question the leadership of Mayor Kilpatrick. The shoe being on the proverbial other foot is not a pretty thing is it Mr. Wayne County Executive? I guess that Mayor Bing will be running for County Executive next since, let him tell it, he was asked to seek the mayorship by his friends to provide a better image for the leadership of Detroit. Are those same business folk whispering in his ear to replace Ficano? Then again, after the way that they have seen him run Detroit, those same folk are probably whispering in the ears of anyone but Dave Bing.

This firestorm in Wayne County is only being addressed politically by a few and it is pathetic how silent so many are on this matter. Earlier, I stated that I would leave it for the readers to decide, but that would be cowardly of me to not call a spade a spade. That said, I would hate to think that if Robert Ficano was of a darker hue and had the last name other than Ficano that the calls for his exit would be deafening. I mean, I am still getting my hearing checked on the regular after all the loud noise that was being displayed up until the former Mayor resigned.

It is a sad day when the leadership of one person was called into question at every turn and there is more than enough being said about another’s leadership that shows it to be questionable, but the media still remains as a whole; quiet as church mice. Just goes to show once again that a black man’s transgression is looked at tenfold versus that of another one of God’s children that does not share the same hue.

Laura Cox should not be the only one of two Wayne County Commissioners calling for Mr. Ficano to step aside. Then you have another that lacks gumption and is asking that his constituents tell him that it is time for the Wayne County Executive to go. Really! Take a stand Mr. McNamara on your own volition and stop using your constituency as an excuse and convenient scapegoat for you. The man needs to step down and you should be able to see that as clear as day and say so.

This man should not make it to another election day as a candidate to serve the people of Wayne County. It already is a travesty that the media is punking the electorate with the double standard treatment, but the electorate should not have to wait until another Election Day to fire the County Executive.

If it was okay to see the former mayor removed from office for his transgressions and violation of the public’s trust, then it should be okay for the Wayne County Executive to retreat as well into oblivion.