Renewed Call For Ficano's Resignation Amid Corruption Probe
DETROIT (WWJ) - A Wayne County Commissioner is calling for Executive Robert Ficano to resign.
Livonia Republican Laura Cox is expected to introduce a resolution to the full county board in two weeks that calls for Ficano to vacate the executive office.
She said Ficano's ouster would be "in the best interest of the people," allowing Wayne County to more forward.
"As the Ficano administration is being deluged with indictments, allegations of mismanagement, fraud, malfeasance, misfeasance, improper payouts and payoffs and various other scandals," said Cox, "the whole of Wayne County has become paralyzed by the misadventures of the appointees of Mr. Ficano.
"Mr. Ficano's nauseating position of 'plausible deniability' by alleging he is completely unaware of any wrongdoing of his minions, makes a mockery of the government and the people he was elected to serve," Cox said.
The announcement by Cox comes the same day another former aide to Ficano was charged with bribery. Former deputy information technologies director David Edwards allegedly accepted $13,000 from a contractor. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office says Edwards is expected to plead guilty.
Edwards is the fifth former member of the Ficano administration to face federal corruption charges.
Speaking with reporters earlier in the day, Ficano seemed to be taking all the legal problems involving his administration in stride. In fact, he said things have been moving along smoothly.
"We've been very cooperative. You know, at this point ... all the county work is getting done. In fact, our workload is increasing," Ficano said.
"You know, the federal government has been asking us to take on more of a load in Head Start in the city of Detroit, which we've started to do. Some more delegates have been selected for that. And our deficit elimination plan was passed by the commission 14 to one," he said.
Ficano said that calls for him to resign amount to "election year politics," adding that all he can do is his job.
