DEARBORN — Detroit mayoral candidate Mike Duggan was at Byblos Banquet Hall Tuesday where a campaign fundraiser was held for him. 

Nearly 35 people attended, including several Arab American community activists. The event was organized by Attorney James Allen, Hassan Jaber, executive director of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, Nasser Beydoun, vice president of multicultural marketing for Bassett and Bassett Communications Managers and Counselors, Ismael Ahmed, associate provost for integrated learning and community partnerships at the University of Michigan Dearborn, Mary Zatina and Ed Bagale.    

Other candidates in the city’s mayoral race include former top city attorney Krystal Crittendon, former state Rep. Lisa Howze, state Rep. Fred Durhal, Jr. and Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon who announced his candidacy Tuesday. Duggan’s supporters  called him a turnaround candidate, and believe his experience and leadership in previous positions is what distinguishes him from his opponents. Duggan is widely known as the former CEO of the Detroit Medical Center, and managed to revive the DMC from financial turmoil under his leadership. 

He’s also a former Wayne County Prosecutor and was head of the region’s SMART bus system. He received credit for rescuing the transportation system from financial collapse, and improving its services. 

Mike Duggan (R) stands with Jim Allen at the campaign fundraiser this week.

As Deputy Wayne County Executive he led a solvency package that helped the county eliminate a $130 million budget deficit. 

“At this point people want somebody who can turn the city around. As I’ve said over and over as I look at my opponents in this race… if you can find anything they’ve turned around financially in their lives, one thing, go ahead and vote for them. They have a lot of different attributes, a lot of positive features, not one of them has ever managed anything successfully financially in their lives,” Duggan said. 

He said newly appointed Detroit Emergency Financial Manager, Kevyn Orr was one of his law school classmates.  

“The longer Detroit is under an emergency manager, the longer it’s going to be an embarrassment in national and international stories, because you know everything that is written about the city is going to start with it being in a financial crisis and an emergency manager,” Duggan said. 

He plans on recruiting several successful people who will help lead the city’s turnaround. 

“We need people to leave their careers where they’re being successful today and come join in a team to turn the city around. There are a lot of dedicated people who care deeply about the city who would be prepared to do that,” Duggan said. 

Emergency managers typically stay in cities for up to five years, but Duggan says if a mayor with a history of financial turnarounds is elected that time period could be shortened.  

“If you look at his time with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office and the SMART bus and most recently with the DMC, every situation he’s been faced with has been a turnaround situation. It’s a very daunting task to look at a corporation like DMC that was losing money annually every year. He was able to turn it around in a relatively short period of time, and a lot of it has to do with leadership and managing people the right way,” said Derek Dickow, founder of Steward Media. 

Since launching his campaign Duggan has made nearly 100 stops at Detroit homes, barbershops and churches among other places to meet with residents in some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city, to the wealthiest such as Indian Village.  

Duggan spoke about a statement made by Napoleon regarding where he lives in Detroit. Napolean was quoted as saying Palmer Woods,  a residential district Duggan lives in, “is not Detroit.”  

“If I am elected it’s not going to matter, are you black, white or Arab or Chaldean, are you gay, straight, born in the city of Detroit or in another country, it doesn’t matter,  everybody is going to be valued in this city,” Duggan said.  “If you look at the success that Chicago has had they haven’t had to put up with divisive nonsense. Everybody is welcomed in that community and we’re going to get there.”  

Allen says he’s supporting Duggan because of his previous turnaround efforts. He says he’s known the mayoral candidate for years, and they’ve collaborated on various projects together. 

Allen says Duggan has the leadership skills needed to save the city from its financial crisis. 

 He said there’s no other individual in the mix for this year’s mayoral race that even comes close to Duggan’s ability, commitment and record of success. 

“I really do believe Detroit is not far away from being turned around,” Duggan said.