Free Press reporters M.L. Elrick and John Wisely produced a pretty incredible video report about some of the businesses, often operated by friends and family Wayne County appointees, that exist to do business with Wayne County government and its politicians.
Follow along as reporters visit the UPS Store mailboxes, group homes, and (unbeknownst to current tenants) residential rental properties where these supposed businesses are headquartered.
Oh, wow, isn’t is just crazy how the sister of a top Ficano aide happened to run a telecom firm that had lucrative contracts with Ficano’s campaign, a campaign that was funded (according to documents uncovered by the Freep reporters) by county vendors.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the ongoing series of controversies surrounding Wayne County Executive Bob Ficano is that when we talk about the local business community, in the context of politics, we aren’t actually talking about businesses that provide goods and services to a variety of customers. We’re talking about entities that exist exclusively or primarily to do business with government and politicians.
That’s why the EDGE Opportunities/Wayne County Business Development Corporation board was stacked not with folks like Ford CEO Alan Mulally or the owner of a dry cleaner chain, but lawyers, vendors, and consultants in the business of procuring government contracts.
And, of course, the best part is it's likely all perfectly legal. -- JW
