Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel loves to poke fun at his Oakland County counterpart, Executive L. Brooks Patterson. And Hackel's State of the County speech on Wednesday was no exception.
In the early moments of the address, Hackel pointed to Patterson (who was in the front row of the audience) and then to the huge video screen behind him on stage. The Macomb exec noted that he teamed up with Patterson for a TV ad last summer that backed the SMART bus millage. As visuals of the ad were displayed on the screen, Hackel described an encounter he had with a constituent.
"She said, 'You're running for re-election and you've got such a positive message. It's so nice to see you make a commercial with your grandpa.'"
The audience roared with laughter.
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On a more somber note, Hackel paused at one point during his speech to remember another pol who he poked fun at -- Richard Notte, the longtime Sterling Heights mayor and councilman who died last month. With a photo of Notte wearing one of his trademark fedoras on the screen, the crowd fell silent.
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Hackel constantly talks about branding -- creating a brand, an image for Macomb County. This year's State of the County featured three videos promoting Macomb. But when the exec talked about one of the nation's premier bass fishing tournaments coming to Lake St. Clair next summer, he introduced a single logo on the giant screen that reflects the lake's reputation as one of the finest bass-fishing spots on the planet.
Along with an illustration of a fish, the logo simply said: "Bad Ass Bass."
Did the people have to pay to hear him? Brooks does that.
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