Mayor Photo Op stoops to new low in City of Flint
Phone call from Heaven includes 'point of order' from Eric Mays
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
My caller ID said "Heaven: Pint of Order" and I knew right away it was a call I had been anxiously awaiting since February of last year. That's when Eric Mays changed his address. The most controversial, most colorful, most passionate and most entertaining politician I ever met punched his ticket for a rainbow ride to Heaven because his work on earth was done.
I've had many in my life tell me if ever there's a way to communicate from above, expect a call from them.
So far, nobody had ever reached out. Not a single one.
Until Eric Mays of all people somehow solved the code.
I tried recording our conversation but the error code from Heaven read: "Sound obstructed by special orbital trajectory block."
Luckily, I had been transcribing the words of the late Councilman Eric Mays as the call was in progress. Here's a transcript:
ME: "Hey, Eric your Spartans are going down Friday night!"
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Killbreath, no time for that. We've got business you need to get on and I'm only allowed a short time on this special privilege call. The penalty up here for talking too long might be a trip down in the elevator or something, so I'm not gambling on it like I did at Flint City Hall when they put me in jail for talking too long. Jail up here might be, well, down there. But like I said, we've got important business here."
ME: "I assume the business you are talking about is Flint's Mayor?"
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Yeah, that little Sheldon punk. This is a new low for that little man. By the way, MSU wins on Friday!"
ME: "The Big 10 tournament champs, my Michigan Wolverines, play on Thursday night."
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Enjoy that one game in the NCAA."
ME: "So you are telling me to bet big on UM to lose?"
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Nah. That's one of the rules they had in big letters. Saint Peter here at the Pearly Gates says no telling who wins the games or what the lottery is gonna be, none of that stuff is allowed if you get the special privilege to communicate with earthlings."
ME: "So how did you qualify? You crack the secret code or something?"
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Killbreath, you know me. I've got people, important people as always."
ME: "You have people? Like who?"
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Well, I'm sitting here between your friends Don Williamson, Woodrow Stanley and Bob Carmack. Need I say anything more? They're pulling off some impossible miracle for God up here, so they pulled some strings with the Big Guy and got me on the phone with you since God figured my request isn't all that much in the big scheme of things."
ME: "I presume you are mad about Mayor Neeley putting your name on the Hasselbring Center after he threw out Beverly and took away the senior center from her?"
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "What a chump. But this stunt will kill him with the seniors. Tell my friend Delrico Lloyd he must run for Mayor, by the way. You don't want to take any chances on Flint's future. Only Delrico can save Flint. Endorse him. That's an order from the Don, Wood and Carmack."
ME: "Delrico tells me he's thinking about it but I think it's too big of a pay cut for him. He's doing well as Chief Deputy Assistant to Shawn Fain — head of the international UAW."
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Who else is in the field so far?"
ME: "Maurice Davis, your old city council colleague. He was the first to announce. Another one of your old colleagues, Wantwaz Davis, surfaces every so often with a Facebook post or phone call to me to warn that it's his destiny and part of his story to become Mayor and save Flint. Michael Doan is a young guy who is a possible fresh face. John Daly's wife, Wendy Braun, was calling people to try to line up support for her husband to run. Then there's the possibility of Dr. Karen Weaver trying to make a comeback. But officially, only Maurice Davis is in the race with Photo Op Sheldon."
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "That brings me to the real point of this call. Killbreath, get on that radio show of yours and blast the little man like you've blasted nobody before. If my friendship meant anything to you or even it was just you using me for ratings, I beg you to do this. They loved me in the 1st Ward. That's why I was always the top vote getter city-wide. Sheldon was so jealous of me. He hated me. You know this. He's trying to put my name on the Hasselbring building to capitalize on my popularity with the seniors to get out of this mess he created for himself by taking over the place to get his dirty little hands on the $50,000 grant Beverly was getting from the county commissioners. Tell Delrico great job on embarrassing Sheldon, by the way, on how he stepped up and handled that whole situation in the true Eric Mays spirit of representing constituents."
ME: "But he did it with a touch of class. He didn't yell at anyone. I don't know if you caught it, but Mayor Neeley sent his Chief of Staff, Ed Taylor, to the county board meeting and he jumped up to skip the long line and go first on public speaking. He basically just announced the city wanted the 50K. Then Delrico delivered a 9-0 vote to do exactly that and Beverly moved to the old Kennedy center on Pierson Road, by Bryant."
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "I saw it all. But the point here is, don't let that little punk put my name on a building he threw my friends out of to be used as a political ploy to save his career."
ME: "I said that this morning on my radio show."
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Well, we're a day delay up here. Big time difference. I will make sure to listen later when it comes on here. Now you have me curious. What did you say? In a nut shell. A condensed version."
I'm on a strict time thing here."
ME: "In a nut shell, I ripped him for taping a sign up on the outside of the building. Inside, he had a photo of you on the ground in front of his podium to take advance of his photo op. Up behind him was a big banner with a big picture of himself with a bunch of balloons."
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Nobody protested? Where was Art Woodson? Where were the other council members Sheldon doesn't control as his puppets? Tape, darned him. Unbelievable. By the way, I do have a scoop for you. Let 'em know he can't name buildings. That needs to go through the city council for approval. You tell Dennis Pheiffer, Tonya Burns, Jonathan Jarrett and Jerri-Winfrey Carter to vote no. Make him un-tape that sign and take it down. I don't want my name on a building for Sheldon Neeley's personal gain."
ME: "The taped up sign already fell down. But as to your earlier question, people are speaking out about it on Facebook for sure. Tonya Burns released a statement. Even Ed Tucker felt bad on what Sheldon was doing. He jumped up out of the audience, grabbed your sign off the flood and held it over his head with both hands. The look on Sheldon's face was priceless."
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Yeah, The Don says to tell Ed Tucker he knows why he never took that lie detector test. And, what Don, oh okay, yeah. He also says to tell you it's okay now to let everyone know what a good heart he had for people down on their luck, how he funneled money to you to get it to them when he heard sad stories on the radio or read sad stories in your newspapers."
ME: "You tell The Don that every time someone starts ripping how he was, I set them straight and tell how many times he donated money to help people but wanted to stay anonymous. But if it's okay with him, you tell The Don I will set the record straight on my radio show tomorrow morning."
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "He wants that bouquet of roses, too. Hey, Carmack says he never got that either. He wants one, too. What's that Wood? Yeah, Woodrow says he served as a city councilman, council President, Mayor of Flint, County Commissioner, chair of the county board and in the state legislature. Yet, not once did he ever get a bouquet of roses. He says he wasn't even sure you really liked him until he got up here and had a long chat with Saint Peter after he noticed your name tag on his desk. He scanned your chart, and told Woodrow that you did like him and in fact, having Woodrow as your guest at a Grand Blanc Chamber event years ago was among your long list of good deeds."
ME: "How was that?"
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Apparently that was right after the warning for white people to not go past the river. He says you sat him at your breakfast table in a packed room of white people in suits and arranged for him be the guest speaker."
ME: "Geez, I thought that might be a mark against me because I blackmailed him into a speaking opportunity in front of some money people in exchange for ripping TV 12 and the Flint Journal!"
ERIC MAYS FROM HEAVEN: "Well he must have said the magic words because your friends in the business community came through with some important money to help his campaign for Mayor that year. You need to introduce Delrico Lloyd to them and make sure he is well funded with a campaign to dump this do nothing mayor who is absolutely ruining the City of Flint. Hey, Woodrow asked if you were coming soon after he saw your name tag on his desk, and he apparently went on and on with his new favorite story at the Pearly Gates about how you arrived and God demanded to meet you. He says Heaven never received so many prayers from crooked politicians — praying for you to die during that risky kidney transplant to save your life. God figured if all those crooked politicians wanted you dead, send you back down because you must be doing some good work down there. So you are on bonus time. Get this favor done for me. And give my advisory council guys up here a bouquet of roses."
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Mike Killbreath appears on Metro Flint News/Talk Radio via The Morning Gazette Radio Show weekday mornings from 8 am until 9:30 am. He's an award-winning newspaper columnist and investigative reporter who is the former long-time owner of the local Metro Flint area chain of 14 community newspapers. This fall marks his 50th year as a journalist. He also hosts a new weekly national TV show known as The American Crusaders on cable TV and various OTT TV live streaming platforms.
