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Elected Officials Call On Jim Fouts To Resign; Mayor Rebuffs: 'I'll Be Here Through At Least 2019'

WARREN (WWJ) - A group of local, state and federal leaders, including Congressman Sander Levin and State Senator Steve Bieda, is calling on Warren Mayor Jim Fouts to resign.

The call to step down comes in light of new audio tapes released Monday in which Fouts is allegedly heard making derogatory comments toward African-Americans and women. The tapes were released a month after audio clips surfaced of Fouts allegedly making derogatory remarks about mentally handicapped people.

"Blacks do look like chimpanzees," Fouts allegedly says on first part of the tape. "I was watching this black woman with her daughter and they looked like two chimps."

A statement from the officials -- which include U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, State Senator Steve Bieda, State Representative Henry Yanez, State Representative John Chirkun, State Representative Patrick Green, Macomb County Commissioner Andrey Duzyj, Macomb County Commissioner Veronica Klinefelt, and Macomb County Commission Marv Sauger -- says Fouts is unfit to lead the state's third largest city.

"We have listened to the audio tapes with the voice we recognize of Mayor Jim Fouts. These comments are hateful. They are racist and disparaging of women. The leader of our State's third largest city should be a role model for how we treat each other and anyone that harbors these feelings and expresses them is not fit to lead. We believe that these comments, and the previous comments about people with disabilities, do not represent the people of the City of Warren. Therefore, we believe that it would be best for the people of Warren for Mayor Fouts to resign, and we call on him to do so."

Shortly after the statement was released, Fouts took to Facebook to say he has no intentions of resigning.

"There is tremendous effort to force me out immediately by slander, by character assassination, lies, and by out right condemnation of me," Fouts wrote. "I will not resign. I will be here through at least 2019 as the people wanted me to. I will not capitulate to a rush to judgement by those who wish to take over city hall and hijack the 2015 election. Why? - Because I have changed things for the better in the city. I serve the citizens 24/7 and they know it."

The new audio tapes were released just before Fouts was due to speak at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event at Warren City Hall. Following the event, he issued a response on his Facebook page, denying the voice is his. He said the tapes were meant to undermine him and divide the community.

Weighing in on the issue at a meeting fo the Detroit Economic Club, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said that if Fouts indeed has been framed, he must take legal action.

"If what Fouts is saying is true, that means there have been a number of felonies committed, which means he needs to go to the State Police today and file a crime report saying I'll cooperate; I'll give you voice matches so that you can prove it's a fake," Duggan said.

"It's a very easy thing to do if he's telling the truth. And if he doesn't go and file a criminal charge, he needs to resign immediately because it means he's lying," he added.

In an interview with WWJ's Laura Bonnell, Rep. Levin urged the public to listen to the recordings.

"Everybody who listens to the tape can reach their own conclusion, but I think people need to do so and to express themselves," Levin said. "So in the end, this is true in a democracy, it will be up to people individually and collectively to reach a conclusion and to express it."

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