Mayor's communications chief: I'll resign if Dave Bing asks

Karen Dumas says she has no plans to resign from her job as Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's communications chief unless Bing asks her to do so, despite the public relations nightmare created by a whistle-blower lawsuit that accuses her of turning the executive office into a den of chaos and political upheaval.

"I understand that I am an at-will employee," Dumas, 48, told the Free Press on Thursday. "If it is determined now or in the immediate future, or whenever, that my presence isn't needed, then I will gracefully go."

Dumas made the statement after a private dinner meeting with Bing and members of his executive team over the budget Thursday evening at a downtown restaurant.

Meanwhile, two sources close to city hall said late Thursday that Bing's chief of staff, Shannon Holmes, had turned in her resignation but will take another position with the city. It's unclear why she is resigning. She and Bing could not be reached for comment.

Earlier in the day, both Dumas and Bing had told reporters that they planned to discuss Dumas' future in the mayor's administration in the afternoon. Questions about her future intensified after officials with the city and the Detroit Medical Center confirmed that former TV news anchor Emery King would be tapped to serve in a communications role in the Bing administration. King is communications director for the DMC.

Dumas adamantly denied characterizations of herself in the lawsuit as an overbearing boss. She questioned whether her self-described assertive manner would come under attack if she were a man.

"If I weren't a woman, I don't think I would be getting this kind of criticism," Dumas said. "I'm not vindictive, but I'll tell you what I think. That's disarming for some folks."

Dumas also took offense to claims in the lawsuit that she canceled a meeting with U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., in Washington, D.C., earlier this year so she could shop at luxury clothing retailer Burberry while the mayor sat waiting in the car.

"It was unfair to the mayor," Dumas said of the suit's claims that Bing relied on her for virtually every policy and budget decision. "People have known the mayor as a former athlete, as a businessperson, and I don't think he has been anybody's person other than his own. I think it was quite an unfair, disrespectful, inconsiderate and inaccurate reflection of the mayor."

On Thursday, Councilman Kwame Kenyatta became the first high-level city official to call for Dumas' resignation.

"Ms. Dumas' speedy resignation is the only effective way to dampen the upsurge in more negative media publicity, the potentially harmful effects of which Karen Dumas should understand better than anyone else as Mayor Bing's chief communications officer," Kenyatta said in a statement. "If Ms. Dumas refuses to resign, the mayor should relieve her of her duties before the end of the week."

Speaking out Thursday, Rochelle Collins, who filed the suit Wednesday in Wayne County Circuit Court, said Bing and his small inner circle secretly helped draft legislation -- later signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in March -- that gives broad new powers to emergency managers. Bing's motive, she said, was to take command over union contracts and finances of the city and Detroit Public Schools, while publicly denying the idea.

"I know for a fact that the City of Detroit was involved in the writing of that legislation and making sure everything was in place so that the mayor could take control of the City of Detroit and DPS," Collins said at the office of her attorney, Courtney Morgan Jr. "He didn't talk to all of his staff about it because he didn't want it to get out."

Collins said Bing worked closely with state Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, on the legislation.

Neither Richardville nor the governor's office returned calls seeking comment.

Collins was on the verge of tears while describing her interactions with Dumas, saying the communications chief was verbally abusive and, on at least one occasion, blocked Collins' doorway to keep her from leaving her office.

Collins said the administration, once strong and focused, devolved as appointees left to flee Dumas.

"When we first started, we had a mission and a goal -- it was to move the city forward," Collins said as her husband comforted her. "It was exciting. But it became very stressful. We were spread thin, and it became really hard to do our job."

Dumas said the mayor's staff is strong and united and won't be distracted by "one person that is disgruntled."

"We're focused on what we have to do," said Dumas, who earns $141,000. "I know a lot of people are anxious for a scandal. You aren't going to find one here."

Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown blasted Bing over the lawsuit.

"The allegations of tampering with public policy, inappropriate use of city funds, unethical contracts and other items listed in the lawsuit are the type of corrupt actions we thought were buried in the past," said Brown, who campaigned on the promise of cleaning up abuse in the city and was a frequent critic of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Kilpatrick resigned in 2008 as a result of a text message scandal that showed he lied under oath and had an affair with his chief of staff.

"I am surprised to see some of the same issues rise from the grave and continue to haunt us," Brown said. "We cannot underestimate the seriousness of these alleged events."

Councilman Ken Cockrel Jr., who briefly served as mayor, added:

"There is no question that there is a storm that is basically circling around city hall right now. And (Dumas) is the eye of the storm," Cockrel said. "Whether or not those allegations are true or untrue is almost irrelevant. The perception has really become the reality.

"And the reality is that Mayor Bing has got a problem and she's at the center of it."