“Jim Fouts without a political spotlight
is more than just a man in the dark.”
I wrote that nearly four years ago.
It was an observation that holding the post of Warren mayor was everything to Fouts, consuming all his waking moments. It still is. The longtime politician would be a lost soul without the title of His Honor. It satisfies his lust for power and attention, it feeds his ego and his bullying tendencies, it allows him to be surrounded by yes-men and make countless phony statements, and it makes him, in his own mind, essentially infallible.
He captured the crown and he will never surrender it willingly.
When I wrote that Fouts would find himself in a deep dark place without the title of mayor, it was within a column about my doubts, expressed by many at the time, that the Warren mayor would resign from his post due a controversy over vile comments he had made on tape.
Four years later and look where we’re at. More shocking tapes. More calls for resignation.
Fouts rode out that 2013 storm and went on to win re-election by a huge landslide – an 85-15 percent margin — in 2015 against an incompetent opponent. In a Facebook post a few days ago, the eccentric mayor wrote that he intends to serve his term in office through 2019 – at a minimum – just as Warren voters wanted.
While a growing list of federal, state and local officials denounce the raw racist and sexist remarks on the newest Fouts recordings and demand that he step down, I would suggest that he’s not going anywhere.
Civil rights leaders joined the chorus of criticism and an anti-Fouts rally is planned at City Hall this afternoon. All of this comes after advocates and caretakers of the mentally handicapped reacted in a similar manner last month when the mayor’s crude remarks on tape about those with intellectual challenges were made public.
That was weeks ago, and he hasn’t budged.
The only way to end Fouts’ reign would be for the voters of Warren who put him into office to take him out of office. A recall drive and election is the only means available.
Collecting signatures wouldn’t be difficult in this atmosphere. Fouts’ support – with fellow political leaders and among the public – is crumbling. Surely Warren voters are embarrassed that they elected him.
But perhaps the quirky mayor’s own irrational stubbornness has become his biggest enemy. He disingenuously continues to claim that the numerous tapes that have been leaked to the public of late are doctored recordings designed to destroy him.
But a nationally recognized audio expert now says that producing a phony tape in such a seamless way could cost maybe $100,000 to produce. This is not a Hollywood production. Ed Primeau, owner Audio Forensic Expert in Rochester Hills, told Neil Rubin of the The Detroit News that it’s not clear who might harbor such advanced technology.
“Russia, China, maybe Silicon Valley,” said Primeau. “I don’t know who else.”
Clearly not the enemies of Jim Fouts.
The mayor’s story does not hold water. It’s time that he no longer hold office.
