Michigan Politics

By George Weeks

Does Butler Face Anti-Detroit Bias?

TRAVERSE CITY -- In his 1986 bid to be Michigan's first black governor, ex-Democrat Bill Lucas, Wayne County executive and former sheriff, easily won the four-candidate GOP primary but got only 31 percent of the vote in losing to Governor Jim Blanchard by nearly 879,000 votes.

Two decades later, the dynamics are far different as the Reverend Keith Butler, an ex-Democrat who was a 1989-93 Detroit councilman as a Republican, seeks to be Michigan's first African-American U.S. senator.

Blanchard was not as vulnerable in 1986 as polling suggests Senator Debbie Stabenow might be in 2006. Butler is a more powerful speaker than Lucas and has much better Republican credentials, especially among conservatives.

In an interview on his announcement tour last week between speeches in Traverse City and Marquette (his audiences of about 30 at each were far below his crowds downstate), Butler drew this contrast:

"First of all, Bill Lucas was a Democrat who was at the top of the ticket of the Republican Party in 10 months (after switching). If you do that -- including if you are a white male -- if you do that, the Democrats are not going to support you because they feel you are a traitor, turncoat.

"And the Republicans are not going to support you because they are going to go, 'Who are you? You haven't worked in the party and paid any dues. You haven't raised any money for anyone. You haven't helped any other candidates.' That's precisely what happened. A lot of Republicans sat on their hands, and a lot of Democrats."

Butler, founding pastor of the 21,000-member nondenominational Word of Faith International Christian Center Church in Southfield, said, "I've been in the party for 25 years. I've worked for; I've raised money for (other candidates). I'm a real Republican and, personally, I think that's real important.

"Secondly, Bill Lucas was 19 years ago. I think a lot has changed in the last 19 years," including the 2002 election of African-American state Sen. Bill Hardiman, R-Kentwood, "who did well in Grand Rapids itself with black voters, but with majority voters he did extremely well."

Butler said outstate voters "want to know whether I share their values, whether or not I stand for the right things. I don't think they care about what my skin color is."

As a former Detroit councilman, does Butler face a problem with non-Detroiters who have an anti-Detroit bias? His view:

"It won't be in my case. When people find outa026I was the councilman that led the effort to get rid of police corruptiona026I'm the one who didn't accept city vehicles and cars. I'm the one who wouldn't take pay raises. I'm the one that tried to cut taxes in Detroit. I'm the person that twice opposed casino gambling in Detroit, and they didn't get it until I left. I was the person who tried to bring real reform in the face of the opposition that was brought against me."

Charlevoix County GOP Chairman John Haggard says, "There's always that potential" of racial or anti-Detroit bias, but he does not expect that it would be a serious problem for Butler. Haggard, who invited Butler to campaign on Beaver Island, quipped, "We can call him an Irishman."

Bill Mouser, a Butler supporter who is on the Grand Traverse County GOP executive committee, says  to suggest that  bias "isn't an issue is a little naive . . . Some people are not beyond the stone age (including) just as many or more Democrats."

But Mouser, a construction company executive whose wife has a flower shop in Elk Rapids, predicts Butler's strong stand on "good old fashioned American values" will play well across the state.

Butler has a good shot at the GOP nomination and likely will not have a crowded primary as in 1986 when Lucas faced three challengers who then were current or future officeholders -- Oakland County Executive Dan Murphy, U.S. Rep. Dick Chrysler, and state Rep. Colleen Engler, ex-wife of then-Senate Majority Leader John Engler. She ended up as Lucas' running mate on a ticket that essentially bombed up north.

Troy industrial engineer Bart Baron, who once ran for Congress as a Democrat, says he will run for the 2006 Republican Senate nomination. Some well-credentialed Republicans pondered and declined; some are still pondering. But Butler says he's in to stay and by the time of the September 23-24 Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island, "we may be the defacto nominee."

George Weeks is the political columnist for The Detroit News and is syndicated by Superior Features.