Lansing council member Patricia Spitzley launches campaign for mayor: 'I'm ready to lead'
Sarah LehrLANSING — City Council member Patricia Spitzley officially kicked off her 2021 mayoral campaign Wednesday afternoon, with a promise to Lansing that she is "ready to lead."
Spitzley has been an at-large representative in Lansing since 2016 and served as City Council's president in 2017.
The 56-year-old attorney is the director of government relations for RACER Trust, which redevelops properties General Motors formerly owned.
Related: Misspelled dark money flyers target Bernero over sexual harassment allegationsv
That experience taught her to balance a budget, she said. She promised to initiate an independent "top-down" audit of Lansing's finances within 60 days of taking office.
"I want to see a Lansing where people feel safe and valued no matter who they are, what their station is," she said. "I want to see a Lansing that is financially sound. I want to see a Lansing where the employees look like the community that they're serving."
Spitzley hasn't committed to defunding the police department, but says she'd support "transforming" policing.
More: Lansing Mayor Andy Schor announces 2021 reelection campaign
That could involve hiring more community police officers — officers assigned to specific geographic areas with the intention of building long-term relationships — or it could mean having staff other than armed officers handle welfare checks, she said. Spitzley chairs Lansing's committee on diversity, equity, and inclusion, which has advanced plans to hire more city social workers who will work with police.
"If one person believes that they're over-policed in the city of Lansing, we have an obligation to look at that," she said.
More: Officials have tried to close Lansing's lockup for decades. Despite concerns, it remains open.
Spitzley wants to close Lansing's lockup and says city police could instead use the Ingham County Jail in situations when people need to be taken into custody. Lansing faces an ongoing civil lawsuit over the death of Anthony Hulon, who died of asphyxiation in 2020 after Lansing police restrained him in the lockup.
If elected, Spitzley would be the first Black person and the first woman to serve as Lansing's mayor. Her parents, she said, prepared her to take on that historic role.
More: Former Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero plans another run in 2021
Her mother was a sharecropper. Her father, a Vietnam War veteran, returned from being a prisoner of war to "extreme racism," in the U.S., she said.
"They give me the background and the legacy to do public service, to make sure, if I have a problem with my community, to jump in and address it," she said.
She's running against incumbent Mayor Andy Schor and Virg Bernero, Lansing's mayor from 2006 through 2017. Four political newcomers — Arielle Padilla, Jeffery Scott Handley Jr., Larry James Hutchinson Jr. and Melissa Huber — also have filed to run for mayor.
Neighbors helping neighbors: Why Lansing mutual aid groups have flourished during the pandemic
Candidates have until April 20 to file to run in Lansing's Nov. 2 election. Along with the mayor's office, four City Council seats and the city clerk position will be on the ballot.
The races are nonpartisan, but an Aug. 3 primary will winnow the number of candidates.
Contact reporter Sarah Lehr at slehr@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahGLehr.