Impact Detroit Magazine Impact Detroit Magazine 2013 | Page 9

Candidate for Mayor of Detroit - Benny Napoleon Source: HuffingtonPost Benny Napoleon is Wayne County Sheriff and a former Chief of Police in Detroit. Crime and addressing the city's financial issues have been cited as his top priorities as a candidate. He's also come out against the appointment of an emergency financial manager to Detroit and has expressed doubts about the declaration of a "financial emergency." "I have serious questions about veracity of state review team’s report that appears to overstated city’s long-term debt," he said in a March 2 tweet. Born and raised in Detroit, Napoleon was recruited to Detroit's police academy in 1975 and quickly rose through the ranks. In 1998, he was appointed as the city's police chief. Michigan Radio reports that violent crime fell by 30 percent during his time heading the department before retiring in 2001. But his time as DPD chief was not without controversy. An investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, launched in 2000, resulted in a federal consent decree over the Detroit Police Department's use of force and other practices. Napoleon holds an associate's degree in law enforcement and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Mercy College and a law degree from the Detroit College of Law. During the current mayoral race, Napoleon has traded barbs with candidate Mike Duggan over the former DMC chief's decision to relocate from the suburban city of Livonia to Detroit's affluent Palmer Park neighborhood Candidate For Mayor of Detroit - Fred Durhal Jr Source: HuffingtonPost Fred Durhal Jr., a second-term state representative, announced his candidacy in November 2012. He serves Detroit's 5th district and sits on Michigan's House Appropriations Committee. If elected as Detroit's mayor, Durhal says he would begin his term by concentrating on financial stability, public safety, community and economic development, education, training and job development. The state representative is a native of Rochester, New York, but moved to Detroit with his family at a very young age. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Wayne State University. Durhal has a long record of public service that includes working as an assistant to former Detroit Mayor Coleman and serving as the first African-American political organizing director for the Michigan Democratic Party.