Detroit Mayor's Friend thrives on city contracts

The Detroit News reports:

A friend of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's has received at least $170 million in city contracts -- $109 million from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department alone -- since the mayor took office in 2002.

Bobby Ferguson, who has been at the mayor's side at black-tie social events and on the backs of motorcycles, has long claimed the relationship hurts his general contracting company's ability to land contracts. But an analysis of records by The Detroit News shows his share of water department contracts has jumped more than 20-fold since Kilpatrick took office. Half of them have doubled, tripled or almost quadrupled in price because of additional work -- a cost that is spread among customers in 126 communities across southeast Michigan.

Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel called The News' analysis "explosive."