REACHING FOR THE RING

Word bouncing around the Oakland County Executive Building is that former Congressman Mike Bishop (R-Rochester, Rochester Hills) is interested in throwing his hat in the ring for county executive in 2020 to replace L. Brooks Patterson, especially since Rochester Mayor Bryan Barnett may be rethinking running for the county’s brass ring. Barnett’s national profile has been rising as he is now a member of the United States Conference of Mayors, visiting the White House in January and joining Vice President Mike Pence on a leadership conference mission to Poland in May. Word is that the reaction at the county building to Bishop as exec is lukewarm at best. The former state Senate leader has looked at a county gig before, running for prosecutor in 2016 against Democrat Jessica Cooper, but that gambit proved a losing proposition. Bishop, who lost the 8th District to Democrat Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, had also been rumored as reportedly mulling another congressional run.