Mike Duggan is conducting a "stealth candidacy" for mayor of Detroit, according to Leonard Fleming of the Detroit News.
Duggan, CEO of the Detroit Medical Center, is recruiting a team of advisers and cajoling business and community leaders and prominent pastors in preparation for a serious run.
He has held a string of private meet-and-greets with former Mayor Dennis Archer, entrepreneur Dan Gilbert, Tigers and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch, among many others.
Among his advisers and supporters: former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Conrad Mallett; Detroit businesswoman Cynthia Pasky; Lorna Thomas, a dermatologist in the city and mother to former state Sen. Samuel "Buzz" Thomas; Tom Lewand Sr., a former chief of staff to Gov. James Blanchard and an Oakland County commissioner; and longtime aide David Katz, the husband of political consultant and sometimes Mayor Dave Bing adviser Jill Alper.
Mayor Dave Bing, who has stumbled frequently as mayor, has scheduled a fundraiser for July 12.
Duggan has wide business and political experience, and his interest in the mayor's office has drawn widespread attention because, if elected, he would be the first mayor of the nation's largest city with a black majority since 1974.
