Chad Selweski covered state and regional politics for The Macomb Daily for nearly 30 years. He contributes to Deadline Detroit and blogs at Politically Speaking.
Dino Bucci
By Chad Selweski
Dino Bucci, who’s in line to become the most infamous crooked politician in recent Macomb County history, depending on the outcome of the many criminal indictments he faces, is still hanging on to public office despite the best efforts by his constituents and colleagues to give him the boot.
Since he was hit with 18 criminal charges by the feds at the height of the Macomb County corruption scandal last year -- indictments ranging from extortion and money laundering to bribery and embezzlement involving public contracts -- Bucci was summarily ousted as the county’s deputy public works commissioner.
But he maintains his second government post as an elected member of the Macomb Township board.
Facing 30 years in prison if convicted, he has not shown up on the job at the township hall since last November, though he continues to collect a paycheck. His federal trial is set for Dec. 3.
To avoid a legal fight, Bucci was permitted to retire from his county job, allowing him to receive a pension and retiree medical benefits. From the township, he is collecting $9,000 a year in salary for his part-time position.
A former tuxedo salesman, Bucci served as the right-hand man for Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Tony Marrocco, who was known as the “godfather” of Macomb politics for a quarter century until voters ousted him two years ago.
Alleged Mafia-style operation
Based on the FBI portrait of Bucci in the indictments filed in federal court, for more than two decades he never held a real job at Marrocco’s office, other than as the enforcer in what appeared to be a pay-to-play, Mafia-style operation within the bowels of Marrocco’s public works office from 1993 to 2016.
So far, Bucci frustrates the public by refusing to step down from his township post. Before going AWOL, he routinely faced angry crowds at board meetings demanding his resignation.
Macomb Township, an upscale, fast-growing suburb, can’t find a way to deal with all this.
Earier this year, township board members-- all fellow Republicans – sent a written plea to Gov. Rick Snyder seeking gubernatorial action to remove the embattled trustee, but it produced no results. The board remains hopeful that the governor might intervene as a second letter was sent to Snyder last month. State law says that the governor can remove an elected official for official misconduct and willful neglect of duty.
Meanwhile, a grassroots recall drive aimed at removing Bucci this summer somehow fell far short of the required petition signatures. The recall campaign collected just 3,100 of the 6,900 petition signatures needed by the Aug. 3 deadline to earn a spot on the November ballot.
Suit follows Spranger removal
In addition, a lawsuit filed by a high-profile local attorney, Frank Cusumano, is pending. Cusumano is best known as the attorney for ex-county clerk Karen Spranger, who was removed from office by a judge. Spranger was deemed ineligible to run, nearly two years after the fact, because the eccentric candidate falsely claimed in 2016 that she was living in a dilapidated house in Warren.
Cusumano now asserts that Bucci also should have been removed from the 2016 ballot -- when he won re-election to the township board -- because of the numerous criminal charges that were in the works.
Of course, the judicial standard of innocent until proven guilty still applies.
While Bucci maintains the title of Macomb Township trustee, he is viewed as anything but trusty.
The latest attempt to bounce Bucci comes as the state House last week passed a bill that would allow the governor to remove from office an elected township official specifically for repeatedly failing to show up for board meetings.
Two Republican lawmakers who represent portions of Macomb Township co-sponsored the legislation. But as the bill heads to the state Senate it may face a murky future due to its narrow focus. Previously, Reps. Steve Marino of Harrison Township and Jeff Yaroch proposed a special House committee that would investigate and possibly impeach Bucci.
‘Enough is enough’
“There comes a time where enough is enough, and we are well past that point,” Marino said. “The way this has transpired isn’t fair to hard-working taxpayers who expect their elected officials to show up for work -- especially when they are funding their salaries, pensions, and benefit packages.”
Dino Bucci's sidewalk.
While Bucci has disappeared from public life, critics claim he still flaunts his influence over township government for personal gain. The latest controversy relates to the township’s ongoing, widespread sidewalk repair program. A typical homeowner may see one or two pieces of cracked or tilted sidewalk replaced with new cement. But at Bucci’s house, the entire sidewalk is marked for replacement.
That may serve as a small perk for a bigtime alleged criminal in local government accused of pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it irks township residents after the many allegations were unleashed by the FBI probe. His most ardent detractors link the apparent Bucci favoritism to a phrase cited in court documents when a colleague caught up in the corruption, former township trustee Clifford Freitas, was sentenced in July to 20 months in prison for bribery. Freitas’ attorney argued that his client’s behavior was merely the “Macomb Township way” of doing things.
The old Macomb Township way still looms large for officials and residents, chagrined and embarrassed, as they look toward a new day. All they see so far are dark clouds hanging low over the horizon as Bucci thumbs his nose at them while awaiting the spectacle of a trial.
