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Vote Bing For Mayor of Detroit

The latest fad in former NBA guards is to run for mayor. Following in the footsteps of Kevin Johnson, the recently elected mayor of Sacramento, Detroit has its own local hero making his political debut in a mayoral race. Dave Bing, once an all-NBA guard with the Detroit Pistons, and before that, a member of Syracuse University backcourt with Jim Boeheim, is now running hard to be mayor of Detroit. Bing is a very successful businessman, having built a company since his retirement from the NBA with 500 employees and at least $300 million in revenue.

Bing received the most votes in the primary and now faces a runoff election on May 5 against incumbent Mayor Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. Cockrel became mayor when the previous occupant of that job was convicted of lying under oath about an affair with his former chief of staff. It figures to be a tough race for Bing, who only received about 2% more votes than Cockrel in a crowded primary. Cockrel just picked up the endorsement of the AFL-CIO, which I suspect is fairly valuable in a heavily unionized area such as Detroit.

Good luck Mr. Bing I have no idea why anyone would actually want to be mayor of Detroit, I have no idea. The fact that you do makes me question your sanity. Nevertheless, I wish you all the luck in world because if you win, you're sure going to need it.

Here's a video of Bing speaking about his strengths and weaknesses to a young professionals group in Detroit about a month ago:

Full post as published by Sports Biz on April 06, 2009 (boomark / email).