Mike Duggan files paperwork, forms mayoral exploratory committee

After months of speculation, former Wayne County Prosecutor and current DMC CEO Mike Duggan filed Wednesday to form an exploratory committee to determine if he will run for mayor of Detroit.

"We've got to get the violence down and the streetlights on and the abandoned properties occupied, and people are deeply into those issues," he said.

"I was born in Detroit. I've worked here for 30 years, and this city is too great to watch it go down the way it's going down."

Undaunted by the massive debt and the state's involvement in the city's business, Duggan said he is a turnaround guy. He did it at the DMC, and he believes he can do it in the City of Detroit.

A product of the McNamara machine, we asked Duggan if that could come back to hurt him since Edward McNamara was under federal investigation at the time of his death several years ago.

"I spent three years as the county prosecutor, the chief law enforcement official. I spent four years running the SMART bus system and nine years running DMC, and there hasn't been any question about my integrity in any of those."

Some have speculated that Duggan being white would have difficulty being elected in the City of Detroit. He said race is not an issue.

"I'm not getting a sense of the racial issue. People want problems solved."

For now, Duggan is looking for support. Attending 30 house parties over the next month and a half, he'll sit and talk with voters about what and who they want.

"There is a feeling of hopelessness like I've never seen, and I feel like I can do something about it and I feel like I can bring in the talent to turn the city around," he said. "For the next 90 days, I'm going to see. If the voters of Detroit want me to run, I'm going to run, and if the voters of Detroit seem like they prefer somebody else, than that's what an exploratory committee is to find out."

Click on the second video in the player to watch Mike Duggan's live interview with Huel Perkins where he answers several questions, including why he would leave the DMC to jump into a situation with so many problems.

Also See:
Skubick: Duggan to soon announce exploratory committee for Detroit mayor?
LeDuff: Mike Duggan as the Great White Hope?