Detroit Mayor Bing will not seek re-election

DETROIT (AP) — Dave Bing's time in the turbulence of Detroit, its politics and immense urban problems will end after only four years.

Buffeted from day one by a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, inefficient internal systems and the need for massive restructuring, the former NBA great announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election and will exit City Hall when his first term as mayor ends in December.

Bing told a group of supporters at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History that the work he and his team started after winning a May 2009 special election is far from finished.

He was unable to bring Detroit's finances in line, and the city came under state oversight in late March when Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Washington-based bankruptcy attorney Kevyn Orr as emergency manager. Orr has final say on all fiscal matters.

"I love the compassion and commitment of Detroiters, and that's why I stayed here and that is why I ran for mayor to right the things that are wrong and to change conditions and the conversation about our city," Bing said. "There's a lot of work that still needs to be done. All the plans that we put into place ... will not be completed by the end of my term."

Detroit's budget deficit could reach $380 million by July 1. Long-term debt is at more than $14 billion. The city could run out of cash before the end of the year, and bankruptcy hasn't been ruled out.

Despite demolishing nearly 10,000 vacant houses since Bing took office, the city still has tens of thousands of vacant homes standing.

The city on Tuesday also hired its fifth police chief in five years to run an undermanned department swamped by one of the highest violent crime and homicide rates in the country.

"Being the mayor of Detroit is not a picnic — in even good circumstances," said T.J. Bucholz, a specialist in political advocacy with a Lansing-based public affairs firm. "Given the fiscal strain, that is a nearly impossible job for even the most qualified candidate."

Known for his cool as a former NBA basketball player, Bing spoke in a measured tone during Tuesday's news conference.

"Change takes time and hard work," said Bing. "However, when Gov. Snyder didn't feel progress was occurring fast enough, he made the decision to appoint an emergency manager with the power to immediately fix some of the city's longstanding financial problems."

The roles of the mayor and the elected City Council were reduced after Orr's appointment.

Although Bing long resisted the appointment of an emergency manager, he decided not to pursue a lawsuit to block it and referred to the arrangement as a "partnership" after Orr was appointed. He didn't directly criticize Orr on Tuesday either, pointing out that some of Orr's findings about the city's situation were similar to his own.

In a statement Tuesday, Orr commended Bing on his service to Detroit.

"The work that he has begun has set Detroit on a path to achieve many of the goals necessary for the city to thrive," Orr said.

Instead, Bing saved most of his scorn for state leaders. He said he expected more help from Lansing that never came.

He criticized a decision by a regional council of governments to cut funding to the city's bus department while increasing allocations to a suburban bus system. He said Lansing's approval of the development of a water and sewer system in Genesee County shows an unwillingness to truly help Detroit. Flint and other cities in Genesee County currently pay Detroit for water and sewer services.

"I have to wonder if the state is truly interested in a partnership," Bing said.

Snyder dismissed the assertion, while still praising Bing.

"We've worked very hard to be a good partner, and I appreciate the mayor and his hard work and diligence in trying to make Detroit a better place," Snyder told reporters Tuesday after signing legislation at the Capitol. "He's done a lot of things to make Detroit a better place. We just need to redouble that effort and do even more in a faster period of time."

Besides the financial mess, crime continues to plague Detroit neighborhoods, many of which are dominated by vacant houses in need of demolition.

An uptick in business investment and a project aimed at investing in and turning around city neighborhoods are among the improvements under Bing's watch, according to Luther Keith, executive director of Arise Detroit!, a coalition of community groups that focus on improving the city.

"We still have to step up our game. That's what he recognizes," Keith said.

Bing told reporters for months that he was contemplating whether to seek re-election and waited until several hours before Tuesday's deadline to announce it. But didn't rule out a political return and said he'd form an exploratory committee for a possible run for Wayne County executive.

Bing spent a dozen years in the NBA after being selected by the Detroit Pistons with the second overall pick in the 1966 NBA draft. After his career, he was elected to the professional basketball Hall of Fame.

In 1980, he founded a steel supply company in Detroit.

Bing ran for mayor in 2009 and won to fill out the remaining months of Kwame Kilpatrick's second term in office after the former mayor was convicted and jailed on charges related to lying on the stand during a civil trial. Detroit voters elected Bing to a full four-year term that November.

Several high-profile candidates have filed or said they will file to run in this year's mayoral race, including Mike Duggan, former chief executive of the Detroit Medical Center, and Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, a former Detroit police chief.

The primary is in August, followed by the nonpartisan general election in November.

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Associated Press Writer David Eggert in Lansing contributed to this report.

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Argentina's Fernandez favored in re-election bid (AP)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said she will seek re-election and is expected to have the upper hand in the October vote as she capitalizes on a growing economy, the lack of a strong challenger and her image as a grieving widow.

Fernandez dispelled months of speculation about her political intentions late Tuesday when she announced in a nationally televised address that she would run again.

"How am I going to let up and not press forward?" the 58-year-old, center-left president asked.

Political analysts agree that given the current political landscape in Argentina, Fernandez is by far the front-runner. Some say that barring any major political fiasco, she could win in the first round of voting on Oct. 23.

"If nothing exceptional happens, I think she'll win in the first round. The opposition is very disoriented," said Sebastian Juncal, an analyst with the Buenos Aires-based Center for Studies of the State and Society. As for the opposition, Juncal said, "their chances are very low because they haven't been able to present a clear message and a platform that interests voters."

The latest poll by the private Center of Public Opinion Studies found that if elections were held today, Fernandez would receive about 47 percent of the vote, followed by 15 percent for opposition congressman Ricardo Alfonsin, the son of ex-President Raul Alfonsin, and 7 percent for fellow Peronist and former President Eduardo Duhalde. The poll was conducted in the final week in May and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

If Fernandez wins, she would keep her Peronist party in power for an unprecedented 12 years, a husband-and-wife dynasty that began when her late husband, Nestor Kirchner, took office in 2003.

Fernandez's first-round election victory in October 2007 was widely attributed to the support of her popular husband, whom many Argentines credited with reviving the country after its 2001-2002 economic collapse.

Fernandez, however, had already built a political career on her own terms, winning a legislative seat in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz in 1991 when her husband became the province's governor. Fernandez later represented the remote province in the national Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

Political analysts speculated after her presidential win that the power couple planned to alternate four-year terms in the Casa Rosada, the country's presidential palace, thanks to Argentine laws letting presidents serve unlimited, non-consecutive terms. Argentine law does allow presidents to serve two consecutive terms.

Such speculation ended with her husband's death of a heart attack in October, after which Fernandez has constantly dressed in black. Some Argentines say she has drawn sympathy and rallied more support by showing she can lead and persevere as a widow.

"She was able to build emotional leadership after Nestor's death. Widowhood is a psychological element that is at play," said analyst Hugo Haime, of the Buenos Aires consulting firm Haime & Asociados.

Fernandez's use of black dresses has been compared by some to the black arm band former Argentine strongman President Juan Domingo Peron wore long after the death of his wife Eva Peron in 1952.

Mariana Pita, a 27-year-old lawyer, said she was surprised the president decided to run again.

"I see her as very fragile emotionally and physically," Pita said. "It appears more a response to pressure inside her party than what she wants."

Fernandez also has been aided by a rising economy that has neutralized the negative impact of rapid inflation.

Since her husband became president in 2003, Argentina's economy has enjoyed strong growth, surging by as much as 9 percent a year. The only weak year was 2009, when the economy grew just 0.9 percent amid the global downturn. The government predicts 4.3 percent growth this year.

Fernandez's supporters also credit her government with helping the poor through benefits, including monthly payments of $50 per child to informal workers, the unemployed and domestic workers. The money is given on the condition the children are vaccinated and attend school. According to official figures, 4.5 million children benefit from this program.

Hector Sanchez, a 53-year-old architect, said Fernandez can guarantee stability for Argentina.

"Cristina represents a less-cruel capitalism," Sanchez said. "Argentines don't want more recipes from the International Monetary Fund that end up provoking crises like in Greece today."

To win in the first round, a candidate needs at least 45 percent of the vote, or 40 percent if the second-place finisher is at least 10 percentage points behind.

If no candidate wins the first round of voting in October, a second round will be held in November. The field of candidates will be finalized in party primaries on Aug. 14.

Opponents have alleged mismanagement and corruption by Fernandez's government, and have also accused the administration of manipulating official statistics. The government, for instance, estimates there will be 8.4 percent inflation this year while independent analysts say the real inflation rate is likely to be above 25 percent.

A corruption scandal in the influential rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which has close links to Fernandez, could also have political consequences for the president.

Lawyer Sergio Schoklender, the group's legal representative, is accused along with his brother Pablo and more than a dozen others of fraud, money laundering and illegal enrichment. The authorities' widening investigation has focused on the use of public funds that were intended to go toward the organization's social projects.

While earning about $16,000 a year in his role, Schoklender amassed a mansion, Ferrari and Porsche sports cars and a yacht, according to the opposition newspaper Clarin.

"The Schoklender case carries significant political damage for the government and will have an electoral cost, although today it's unclear how much, and in four months many things can change," said Rosendo Fraga, a political analyst with the New Majority think tank.

Haime, however, said he doubts the scandal poses any real threat to Fernandez.

"There's an electoral climate in which the government seems unbeatable," Haime said.

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Cuba, others cause trouble in U.N. re-election: envoys (Reuters)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council Thursday delayed by a day its vote to recommend Ban Ki-moon for a second term as U.N. chief after Cuba and other Latin American countries declined to endorse him, envoys said.

"Cuba's causing difficulties with GRULAC (Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries), but it's just procedural," a Western diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"Ban's going to win, though it's unclear whether GRULAC will endorse him as a bloc," the diplomat added.

Cuba's U.N. mission issued a statement denying Havana was the reason the process had been held up, adding, "Nor has it been opposed to this re-election."

A spokesman for Cuba's mission declined to comment when asked whether the statement meant his mission would now vote in favor of a GRULAC endorsement of the U.N. chief.

A senior U.N. official confirmed that Cuba was not alone and that other Latin American countries including Mexico, Guatemala and Paraguay had raised concerns. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said Mexico suggested there should be more than one candidate for the top U.N. job.

Diplomats said the Security Council vote on whether to recommend the former South Korean foreign minister for a second five-year term as U.N. secretary-general starting in January 2012 had been postponed until Friday at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT)

It was not immediately clear what specific reason Cuba might have for not supporting a GRULAC endorsement of Ban, but Western diplomats say Havana sees the secretary-general as under U.S. influence.

BRAZIL SUPPORTS BAN'S RE-ELECTION

Diplomats said there was an inconclusive GRULAC meeting on Thursday afternoon and another one scheduled before Friday's council meeting to see if the bloc could agree to endorse Ban.

If GRULAC was unable to back Ban, who is so far the only candidate for the post, it would have no impact on the voting process. But it might be embarrassing for the U.N. chief, who diplomats say would like to have the official support of all 192 member states and all regional groups.

Ban, who was visiting Brazil Thursday, did not comment directly on the delay, telling reporters in Brasilia, "I expect that member states will take positive consideration for my humble desire to serve this great organization."

Brazilian diplomats said late Thursday the country would support Ban's re-election bid.

Officially, U.N. secretaries-general are elected by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. In reality, it is the five permanent veto-wielding council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- that decide who gets the job.

All five permanent council members have said they support Ban's re-election.

The General Assembly is expected to formally approve Ban's second term Tuesday.

Ban has been touring Latin America this week to meet with regional leaders. He has not visited Cuba.

(Additional reporting by Raymond Colitt in Brasilia, Editing by Peter Cooney)

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