Lisa Howze, State Representative For Detroit, Announces Mayoral Campaign

Michigan State Representative Lisa L. Howze is already suiting up for the 2013 Detroit mayoral race.

Howze said she will run for mayor of the city of Detroit on WJBK's "Let It Rip" Thursday night, and she will officially announce her candidacy Friday morning.

Currently representing the second district, a section of northeast Detroit bordering Eastpointe, the State Rep. will not run for re-election for the State House. The redrawn Michigan district maps, which were approved last August and take effect in 2013, divides the area of Howze's former district between four other districts.

Howze points to her background as a certified public accountant as a qualification for running a city with big financial challenges. She believes her legislative background will help her advocate for the city, a sentiment that packs a punch as Detroiters wait to hear the results from the financial review team investigating the true extent of the city's financial problems. Their findings will play a role in determining whether Governor Rick Snyder will appoint an emergency manager for Detroit.

"The inconsistency in Michigan law -- both its interpretation and application -- as it relates to the city of Detroit's financial health is mind-boggling to say the least," Howze said in a statement, addressing the recent mandate that Detroit must cut income taxes. "How can the Michigan Department of Treasury be of the opinion that Detroit's fiscal forecast is rosy enough to continue a statutorily required reduction in city income tax rates, yet is sufficiently dysfunctional to render the municipality a strong candidate for a governor-appointed emergency manager?"

On "Let It Rip," Howze spoke of the importance of finding new sources of revenue for the city. She has said her 2012 priorities are improving Detroit's finances, education and auto insurance reform.

Howze came close to gaining a City Council seat in the 2009 election, placing 10th out of 18 candidates for nine positions.

Howze isn't the first to announce intent to run for mayor. Roi Chinn, an administrator with the city's Municipal Parking Department, started his campaign in 2010, if his LinkedIn account is to be believed.

City Council President has not confirmed, but is "seriously considering" a run, according to Reuters. He has already said he won't seek re-election to Council. Current Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has not yet made official plans to run again.

Comments

[Angelic11]

05:57 PM on 02/05/2012

the AntiKwame

[RitaS]

08:54 PM on 02/04/2012

Michigan State Representative Lisa L. Howze, I wish you luck in your campaign. My concern is how TOUGH you'll be to stop the ingrained corruption w/ city politics...

Detroit & it's people deserve better than what those self-serving p*thetic politicians have given them over the last few decades....

[miaontia]

01:05 PM on 02/04/2012

Is that the girl that played Wanda on In Living Colour?

[Edward Standley]

09:01 PM on 02/04/2012

Needin' some attention, little fella? Here ya go- *******************

[Muzzle Me]

12:45 PM on 02/04/2012

Way, and I mean waaaaay back when, Detroit COULD have been another Chicago, but because of Mayor Coleman Young who made the mandate of anything beyond Eight Mile, etc. etc. wasn't going to infringe upon HIS city, well the handwriting slowly started to appear. Major companies moved out of the city starting with the auto companies with the exception of GM corporate headquarteters still there, then came stores like Hudson's moved out and can we not forget the stonewall of ANY public transporation from the burbs to the city? The People Mover??!!! Total joke!!! Goes all of maybe 2 blocks. And, last but not least, Detroit refusing to build on Belle Isle. Chicago, years and years ago, built on and built up the Lake Shore, folks there still are able to enjoy the Lake and the parks but also utilized that jewel of a property to build on Chicago's infrastructure. Like I said, Detroit could have been a contender. Never will. Not in comparison to cities even other than Chicago.

[StellaDuBois]

07:58 PM on 02/04/2012

I feel safe in saying the vast majority of Belle Isle's regular users don't want to see it developed. The only people who do are those who look to make $$ from it.

[Muzzle Me]

10:41 AM on 02/05/2012

And, that's why Detroit will never come around and rebuild. Holding onto a park and nothing more, whereby, that jewel of property could possibly be the beginning of a resurrection for the city. Apx. 4 months out of the year, folks enjoy Belle Isle, when they really can enjoy it. The city can still maintain some of the park area and the eco-system but also utilize it for the betterment of all the city.

[Muzzle Me]

10:45 AM on 02/05/2012

Then don't complain when businesses don't want to invest in the city. Back when a huge majority of businesses moved out of the city to Southfield. Southfield gave incentives to those businesses to move their companies there and Southfield has grown immeasurably and also Livernois and other cities. When a huge store like Hudson's, at the time, the anchor store moved out of Detroit, that should have been a big wake up call for those that do want the best for Detroit.

[StellaDuBois]

08:01 PM on 02/04/2012

Furthermore, Chicago's growth came from the exact thing that undercut Detroit in the day - the railroads. Chicago is on the northern mainline and was the common stop one day out of NYC. Detroit is up off the mainline and thus didn't get the traffic.

[Maximo Ugmo]

03:31 PM on 02/03/2012

Is she politicizing while using the taxpayers office? If so it's ILLEGAL. Nice start...

[traditionalliberalsrock]

09:58 AM on 02/04/2012

Standard procedure in Detroit, friend. LOL.

[bucksy]

03:31 PM on 02/04/2012

if she did then that is probably the smallest crime committed in the D to date.

[Maximo Ugmo]

06:59 PM on 02/04/2012

Your representatives should be crime free...and not be dismissed as "oh my bad". Judges, lawyers and politicians need to be held to a higher standard of civility.

[Witchhunter]

11:27 AM on 02/03/2012

Do the citizens of Detroit allow a white person to even run for mayor or is it "our city' only kinda folks.

[henrypapillon]

12:08 PM on 02/03/2012

Anyone can run, black or white. Actually more whites have moved back into the city recently, but most of the city is still black. I think that if somebody really good that was white came along , people would vote for them. But right now Detroit needs a miracle. Like a lot of cities with declining industry and declinig populations due to the rise of suburbs, Detroit stiil finds itself a city that has all this infrastructure to support and a declining tax base.

[traditionalliberalsrock]

10:00 AM on 02/04/2012

There are good people there...I know, live and work with many of them. But the familial breakdown, single mothers, crime,etc.....

Agreed vs. the "miracle". The city's souls has been corrupted and dead for some time.

[bucksy]

03:34 PM on 02/04/2012

people have moved back there but probably not many families. I wouldn't mind living in a high rise there, but couldn't send my son to any of the schools in Detroit.

[cookerman45]

11:01 AM on 02/03/2012

GOOD!