Lawmakers urge Detroit-area mayor Jim Fouts to resign over controversial recordings

Fouts, an Independent, says the recordings of him allegedly saying inflammatory things, are not actually of him

Published January 17, 2017 6:14PM (EST)

Jim Fouts   (AP/Carlos Osorio)
Jim Fouts (AP/Carlos Osorio)

WARREN, Mich. — Federal, state and county lawmakers are calling for a Detroit-area mayor to quit after unverified audio tapes surfaced purportedly featuring him making racist and sexist comments.

Warren Mayor Jim Fouts denies it's his voice on the recordings released Monday by online news site Motor City Muckraker. Fouts issued a similar denial last month, following the release of recordings containing disparaging remarks about disabled people.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Sander Levin and other lawmakers issued a statement Tuesday urging Fouts to resign. They describe the recorded comments as "racist and disparaging of women."

Fouts said via Facebook that he's being slandered and that he won't resign.

The mayor has been feuding with Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel over allegations that Hackel allowed soil to be illegally dumped at a Sterling Heights amphitheater.


By AP Staff

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