The land bank authority and efforts to expunge felons' records are good programs, but they should not be funded at the expense of Sheriff's deputies, Evans said.

"(Expunging records) might be a nice thing to do, but that $2 million, if it keeps deputies holding prisoners in jail, would be a more sensible thing to do," Evans said. "It's an issue of priority."

Evans said the county's recommendation would force the layoffs of 238 deputies and four civilians. It would force the closure of 13 of the 14 housing units at the Hamtramck jail, putting about 18,000 inmates back on the street in a year's time.

Expunging the criminal records of felons.  That's what Ficano decided to protect at the expense of 238 deputies and the untimely release of 18,000 inmates.  The man didn't draft a budget, he literally drafted a "get-out-of-jail-free" card!  And even better, he's defending the decision.

Bob trotted out his spokesman, a lovely woman named Vanessa who presumably looked the reporter in the eye and told him, quote, "We would not be asking the sheriff to do anything that would be a safety issue to the public."  

Oh, I don't know, Vanessa... something tells me that officially hiding the criminal past of convicted felons, cutting nearly twenty-thousand other bad guys loose on the streets and then firing 238 of the white hats sounds like it could create a pretty serious safety issue with the public.  My mind immediately jumps back to a scene from the second-greatest comic book movie of all time, Batman Begins.  

The diabolical Ra's Al Ghul decided he'd balance the evil books himself by cutting off the exit routes, keeping the police away, disorienting unsuspecting citizens and then releasing upon them all of the prisoners from Arkham Asylum.

Ficano's plan is almost a carbon copy.  Keep the cops away, check.  Make it tougher for normal folks to know if they're dealing with a felon, check.  Release the prisoners, check.  The only thing he hasn't done is set-up road blocks to keep families from fleeing the county.  (Not that it'd matter if he did.  If the latest census figures are any indication it'd take more than a raised bridge or a giant wall to keep folks from fleeing the Detroit area.)

So get back in there Sheriff Evans.  The only thing better than watching Democrats fight is watching the Democrats field for 2010 implode before our very eyes.  But Ficano won't go down without a battle... you'll have to parry and thrust.  And don't forget Batman's first rule of street fighting... `if they can't breathe, they can't fight.'  Not that you need the help.  Proposals like this from the Wayne County Exec have a way of knocking the wind out of a candidacy all on their own.