CHICKENS HOME TO ROOST

Mike McCready

Remember when your mom told you as a child there were always repercussions to every action? Well, in true Mother Knows Best fashion, former state Rep. Mike McCready (R-Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township), who was appointed Oakland County's Deputy Director of Economic Development by L. Brooks Patterson January 1, is finding the votes he cast as he was flying out the door last fall during the state House's lame duck session are coming back to bite him in the (fill in the blank). He cast those lame duck votes right after he lost to Democrat Rosemary Bayer a close race to be the state Senator for the 12th District. The Oakland County Board of Commissioners, with its new Democratic majority (11-10), is reportedly holding up McCready's confirmation as the director of economic development for the county after he voted with fellow Republicans to repeal voter-initiated laws increasing the minimum wage and requiring paid sick time for workers. Now Democratic commissioners are using McCready's nomination, and his record, to negotiate economic development policies and a “fair wage” for skilled trade workers on county-funded capital projects. Meanwhile, Patterson technically has given McCready the title of deputy director so he still draws a handsome six-figure annual salary. All this at a time that McCready is pondering running for county exec on the Republican ticket in 2020.