Warren Mayor Jim Fouts still has not offered a plausible explanation for his late-night Facebook post on Wednesday in which he claimed that an environmental scandal, a “mini version of Flint,”was headed for Macomb County.
His claim, offered without evidence, caused quite an uproar across the county. City officials, school superintendents and residents began making calls this morning to determine if their drinking water was safe. Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and other officials checked with the county Health Department, the regional Great Lakes Water Authority and the state Department of Environmental Quality and all said there was no reason for concern.
In other words, Fouts didn’t know what he was talking about.
At a noon press conference, an infuriated Hackel scolded Fouts, accusing him of playing political games: “It’s very disappointing to create that kind of hysteria in Macomb County,” Hackel said. “I find it deplorable. I can’t even explain to you the people that called who were really worried about this because of the crisis that did happen in Flint. No public official should ever exploit the crisis in Flint.”
Fouts did not return phone calls from county or city officials but he did post a follow-up comment on Facebook about 13 hours after the first post. After he had “viewed his Facebook message” from the night before, he said, he decided that it would be more appropriate to describe the situation as “an issue of some importance.”
On their 4 p.m. newscast WXYZ-TV Channel 7 aired an interview with Fouts in which he claimed that the issue involved illegal dumping of waste at Freedom Hill County Park in Sterling Heights and that the debris may have tainted the water in the adjacent Red Run Drain.
Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor said about an hour ago that he is not aware of any dumping at Freedom Hill.
So, what we may have here is just another incidence of Fouts being Fouts.
The quirky mayor has a track record of twisting facts and engaging in flat-out denials – even of remarks he made on video or audio tape. He also has made several outrageous pronouncements in recent years:
- When Fouts attended the Democratic presidential debate at the University of Michigan-Flint in March, the mayor claimed that Democratic National Committee officials tried to throw him out of the event for cheering too gregariously for Sen. Bernie Sanders. Fouts gained some national press attention in the following days when he claimed that the DNC targeted him because they were trying to steer the debate in favor of Hillary Clinton. No one who attended the event stepped forward to vouch for Fouts’ version of the truth.
- In 2012, giving just 24 hours’ notice to the public, Fouts announced that he was postponing Halloween in the city until Nov. 2 due to residual weather problems caused by Hurricane Sandy. What resulted on Oct. 31 was just a few showers. Many Warren parents ignored Fouts, but those who heeded his decree were forced to explain to their kids why nearly no one in Warren was giving out candy on Nov. 2.
- In 2014, Fouts filed a lawsuit to block a pro-business tax plan that voters approved on the August statewide Fouts’ suit claimed the ballot language was confusing and biased. But the mayor was not asking for a re-vote; he just wanted the result erased from history. Fouts went all-out in his (ultimately losing) battle, naming 11 separate defendants in the case. At the time, one Lansing insider said the reaction to the suit was that Fouts’ ego-driven effort was “amazing and amusing.”
- About one year ago, Fouts announced plans for a new city ordinance that would ban any type of stink associated with the breeding of pigs, goats or sheep in his urbanized city of 130,000, the third-largest municipality in the state. The Fouts air quality ordinance called for policing odors linked to animal husbandry, toilets, stagnant pools, garbage, dead animals and burning rubber. But the plan would have gone even further, requiring card-carrying medical marijuana patients living in multi-family units to face fines if they did not keep their apartment or condominium air tight to avoid any pot pollution.
