The Oakland County Democratic Party may be taking a huge
risk with the press release they put out a few minutes ago that asks two questions: why
haven't voters heard from County Executive L. Brooks Patterson since his auto
accident, and are the Republicans hiding the prospect that he may never fully return
to the job?
Criticizing Patterson while he’s recovering from a broken
hip, shattered ankles, fractured wrists and a broken leg is certainly begging
for a backlash, especially when your target is a likeable politician with
bipartisan support. Patterson has served as exec for 20 years and was the
longtime county prosecutor before then.
But with more than six weeks passed since the crash and just
41 days until the election, some voters will see the questions posed by
Democratic Party Chairman Frank Houston as legitimate.
“Oakland County residents deserve a full-time county executive,”
Houston said in the release. “With all the rumors out there, everyone is left
wondering what kind of state L. Brooks Patterson is really in and whether or
not he can actually do the job for another term.”
“While everyone wishes Brooks a speedy recovery, the
reality is that this is likely to be anything but a speedy recovery and Oakland
County residents deserve to know who the Republican on the ticket will be. Will
it be L. Brooks Patterson or someone else that will be later named by
Republicans in a smoke-filled back room?”
Lame duck county Commissioner Craig Covey, a Ferndale
Democrat, has joined the call for Patterson to speak to the voters. And, in an
interview with the Oakland Press earlier today, Patterson’s Democratic opponent in November, Kevin
Howley, also raised the issue.
Stay tuned. This could get intense.
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