Welcome back. I’m still Malachi Barrett.

Detroit mayoral hopeful Mary Sheffield was first to turn in nominating petition signatures for the August primary ballot.

Sheffield invited reporters to watch her deliver roughly 1,200 signatures to the Department of Elections on Wednesday. She needs 500 signatures to qualify for the ballot and can only turn in 1,000 total.

All signatures must be collected within a 180-day window and come from residents. Collecting signatures is a procedural step that some Michigan candidates have catastrophically fumbled in recent years.

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Adam Hollier was disqualified from the 2024 congressional primary ballot after some of his signatures were found to be faked. Hollier offloaded the task of signature gathering to Londell Thomas, who was hired by other candidates that were punted from the ballot for similar reasons.

“I trusted one person to do a thing and to check it and they said it was done, and I didn’t look at it. And it’s going to cost me everything,'” Hollier told the Detroit Free Press in 2024.

Two years earlier it happened to five Republican candidates for Michigan governor, including former Detroit Police Chief James Craig. They were blocked from the 2022 ballot for submitting fraudulent signatures, which led to a criminal investigation for signature gatherers hired by the campaigns.

That’s why Sheffield cut out the middle man and collected the signatures herself. She visited grocery stores and canvassed attendees at recent events.

Sheffield said gathering the signatures herself was important not only to ensure their validity, but the exercise also helped her meet more voters.

“This is one way for people to see me in the community, to see how serious I am about this race,” Sheffield said.

That word – serious – has reappeared across the Sheffield campaign events I’ve attended.

Sheffield’s campaign is trying to assure voters that she’s a solid candidate. She’s being presented as an ally of the grassroots who won’t alienate business leaders, with the necessary experience and a professional campaign team around her.

Being first to turn in signatures serves to keep emphasizing that point.

“We’re out here doing the work and we’re committed to winning this race,” Sheffield said.

Fundraising is another way observers gauge how well a campaign is being run. Sheffield has outraised her opponents so far and kept spending tight, holding nearly $468,000 in cash on hand at the start of this year.

“I’ve always voted my conscience, regardless of where the money comes from,” Sheffield said. “We’re going to have diverse donations, from low dollar amounts to high dollar amounts, all over the country. People are watching Detroit, they’re watching my leadership.”

It’s early, but the cash advantage is notable.

Sheffield raised roughly $163,000 in the last months of 2024, beating out her competitors. State Rep. Joe Tate raised $129,700, City Council Member Fred Durhal III raised $112,000 and former nonprofit CEO Saunteel Jenkins raised $53,300.

I broke down the details of early fundraising activity last week. Here are four main things to know:

• Most of the money raised is coming from outside Detroit
• Sheffield has a strong list of small donations from average people
• Money connected to billionaire Dan Gilbert is starting to flow her way
• Big donors and political committees are largely sitting out for now 

Sheffield is planning a March fundraiser hosted by Greektown business leaders Stella Pappas, Yanni Dionisopoulos, Tony Piraino and Shellie Lewis.

“Burn rate” is another indicator of campaign strength. It refers to the amount of money coming in versus what’s being spent. 

Sheffield spent $50,166 – less than a third of what she raised. Most of that went toward 98Forward, Uprising Strategies and Campaign Finance Director Molly Goldberg for consulting work.

She paid AVIMA Design for a website and merchandise, paid Total Access Events and Farbman Group for administrative expenses and hired Dante Rionda, a photographer in the city’s Media Services Department, to take photos at her campaign launch.

Jenkins spent $52,632 by the end of last year, burning through most of the $53,295 she raised. 

The campaign hired consultants like Game Plan Strategies, GIC1 LLC, and Salk Strategies. Jenkins also paid Digital Detroit Media to develop a website and hired Inland Press to print yard signs.

Reparations task force hires writer

Detroit’s reparations task force is making moves to deliver recommendations on programs for Black residents to the City Council in 2025.

Executive committee members decided last week to hire Desiree Ferguson, legal director of the Detroit Justice Center, to formally write up policy proposals. She’ll be paid $50,000.

The task force was given a $416,000 budget to hire staff and commission studies, though reports created by Columbia University and the University of Michigan were provided at no charge.

A job posting shows Ferguson is expected to develop an official report capturing recommendations for reparations policies that the council could implement.

The report is due by March 31 after the task force was granted an extension.

Detroiters can attend the next task force meeting from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15 at Northwest Activities Center.

City Council candidates emerging

Candidates are stepping forward to run for City Council in 2025. Here’s a list of all who formed candidate committees so far.

District 1

Deon Thompson

District 2

Roy McCallister Jr.

District 5

Whitney Clarke Michael Clemmon Kevin Jones Chantel Watkins

District 6

State Rep. Tyrone Carter Anita Martin Incumbent Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero

District 7

Denzel McCampbell State Rep. Karen Whitsett

At-Large

Cyrus Wheeler Ramon Jackson

If you’re running for City Council, I want to interview you. Contact me at (313) 690-5343.

Don’t forget that the district lines were redrawn last year and take effect for this round of elections. Click here to see which district you’ll live in.

New police chief interviewed 

Interim Police Chief Todd Bettison was interviewed by a City Council committee as part of his confirmation process to officially take the job.

Bettison emphasized the importance of metrics in tracking police performance and accountability. He committed to being transparent with the Board of Police Commissioners, a civilian oversight body, and is letting them in on the budget process early.

Council Member Angela Whitfield-Calloway noted that the vast majority of officers don’t live within the city and just under half of the latest graduating class are Black.

“Does that matter? Yes, because you have to know who you are serving, you have to understand the culture of the people,” Whitfield-Calloway said. “What is your plan to recruit more African Americans?”

Bettison said improvements in the city have made it easier to encourage officers to live in Detroit but services must keep improving. He said the department is aggressively recruiting young residents to join the police force.

“We recruit all over. We’re in the high schools, we recruit at the churches, we enlist everybody to recruit residents of the city of Detroit, which is primarily African American,” Bettison said. “It’s not just African Americans. We have the Bengalis, on the southwest side of Detroit, we have our Latino individuals. We work very hard to recruit them to create that diverse department.”

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan nominated Bettison this week, selecting him from a list of three finalists recommended by the Board of Police Commissioners.

Duggan described Bettison as a unifier while commissioners said he has the support of rank and file officers and earns the respect of community members.

Now it’s up to the City Council to decide whether to approve a two-year contract. If approved, Bettison would earn $245,152 annually.

Bettison seems unlikely to face opposition from council members. The Wednesday interview, though it didn’t include the full council, demonstrated his amicable relationship with the elected body. 

The committee referred a vote on Bettison’s hiring to the full council for consideration at its Tuesday formal session next week.