A Detroit city council member is asking President Obama to bail out the financially troubled city in return for residents’ overwhelmingly supporting his successful re-election bid.
“There ought to be a quid pro quo," said Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, according to My Fox Detroit.
Nearly 75 percent of voters in Wayne County, which includes Detroit, voted for Obama on Nov. 6.
[pullquote]
"After the election of Jimmy Carter, the honorable Coleman Alexander Young, he went to Washington, D.C., and came home with some bacon," Watson said. "That's what you do," Watson said.
Young was Detroit's mayor for 20 years and served as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1977 to 1981.
The White House has expressed no plans to bail out the cash-strapped city that some experts say could go bankrupt by the end of the year.
Michigan officials began state oversight of Detroit six months ago to help the city avoid bankruptcy. But the city-state advisory board says Mayor Dave Bing, a Democrat, needs to move faster in his reform of city agencies and services to avert the city’s financial meltdown.
According to My Fox Detroit, the federal government has helped cities in the past, including President Gerald Ford in 1975 extending more than $2 billion in credit to New York City to help it avoid a financial collapse.