Warren Mayor Jim Fouts to speak out after Supreme Court denies bid for reelection

Lansing — Warren Mayor Jim Fouts will hold a press conference Thursday morning, one day after the Michigan Supreme Court dashed his plans to seek a fifth term.

The court decided Wednesday not to take up an appeal aimed at reviving Fouts' bid for another term, meaning the longtime political figure is poised to lose his position leading the state's third largest city at year's end.

On April 21, the state Court of Appeals ruled that Fouts was ineligible to seek another term in 2023 because of an amendment to the city charter in 2020 that set term limits for mayor at three four-year terms. Fouts and his supporters had argued the term limit standard shouldn't be applied retroactively and "the clock began to run on the date the statute was enacted."

But in a one-page order Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court denied an application from Warren City Clerk Sonja Buffa and the Warren Election Commission to appeal the lower court's decision. The high court's order said the justices were not "persuaded that the question presented should be reviewed by this court."

Fouts didn't immediately respond Wednesday to two calls requesting comment. But the mayor issued a press advisory that he would hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Thursday at City Hall "in light of recent developments."

In April, Fouts told The Detroit News that he was "extremely disappointed" with the Court of Appeals decision in which he said the three-judge panel arrived at an "implausible conclusion that clearly contradicts the lower court's opinion." The court is attempting to "legislate the election results in November," said Fouts, who has been Warren's mayor since getting elected in 2007, after serving on the City Council for 26 years.

Warren City Council member Ronald Papandrea and the council are the plaintiffs who challenged the mayor's eligibility. Panandrea, a self-proclaimed ally of Fouts who said he filed the lawsuit to gain clarity on the mayor's eligibility, said he is "sorry" about the legal result, but said he had tried to convince Fouts to recruit a successor to carry on his legacy.

"But he's a fighter," said Panandrea, who predicted Fouts would endorse a successor at his Thursday press conference. "He'll be back."

Other council members embraced the high court's ruling.

“I applaud today’s decision of the Supreme Court because it upholds the will of the Warren residents who voted overwhelmingly for term limits," Warren City Council President and mayoral candidate Patrick Green said in a Wednesday statement.

"Government and government officials are not above the law. We would not have these lawsuits if we had officials that followed the law. This costly litigation was unnecessary because the voters spoke loudly and clearly at ballot box.”

Buffa and the Warren Elections Commission decided to appeal the Court of Appeals' decision to Michigan's highest court, a move that was criticized Wednesday by City Council Secretary Mindy Moore.

"The City Clerk and Election Commission decided their loyalty was with other politicians and not the voters," Moore said in a statement. "We have had so much unnecessary litigation in Warren because city officials are ignoring our charter and laws. We take an oath to uphold these laws and once again the courts have vindicated the city council’s position standing up for the residents.”

What the courts found

Voters approved a maximum of five, four-year terms for mayor in 2016. Voters approved an amendment to the city charter in 2020 that changed term limits for mayor to three, four-year terms.

The three-judge Court of Appeals panel unanimously agreed that the charter prohibited Fouts from running for a fifth term.

"The Council has shown that it has a clear legal right to the correct application of the charter language, that the city election defendants have a clear legal duty to not certify Mayor Fouts for the ballot," according to the ruling by Court of Appeals Judges Mark Cavanagh, Elizabeth Gleicher and Colleen O’Brien. "The circuit court therefore abused its discretion in denying the Council’s requested writ of mandamus precluding defendants from certifying Mayor Fouts as a candidate."

Lansing political analyst Bill Ballenger, a former state lawmaker, said the controversy surrounding Fouts may have hurt his chances on appeal.

"Some people have hated him for years. And some justices on the Supreme Court may not be sympathetic to Jim Fouts," Ballenger said about the high court's 4-3 majority of Democratic-nominated justices.

In the past several years, Fouts has been accused of making disparaging comments about people with disabilities, African-Americans and women on audio recordings. The mayor has claimed the audio was doctored.

"If he had been allowed on the ballot again, would he have won?" Ballenger said. "He kept on confounding the experts and winning. He was well-known as being fiscally frugal.”

But Democratic political consultant Joe DiSano, who had once worked with Fouts and grew up in Macomb County, said the apparent end of Fouts' reign is welcome.

"Warren finally has a chance to make a clear break from the racist, paranoid Jim Fouts," DiSano said in an email. "The embarrassment is finally over."

When informed of Fouts' press conference, DiSano wondered if the mayor "will flail around latching onto any way to find some relevance. Maybe it's running for another office or finding some grievance-oriented cause. We won't be rid of Jim Fouts anytime soon. Even if we should be.”

The remaining candidates on the ballot who are competing to replace Fouts are council President Green, George Dimas, Alfonso King, Macomb County Commissioner Michelle Nard, Scott Cameron Stevens and state Rep. Lori Stone, according to the Macomb County Clerk's Office.

Warren's City Council and the mayor have found themselves at the center of controversy in recent years, including lawsuits the council and Fouts have filed against each other over their powers in city government, including the budget.

cmauger@detroitnews.com