Calif. GOP gov candidate’s comparison of Fresno, Detroit draws sharp response from Motor City

Detroit to Whitman: Invest in struggling cities

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Detroit mayor’s office is criticizing California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman for comparing Fresno to Detroit and calling it “awful.”

Karen Dumas, a spokeswoman for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, said in a statement Thursday to The Associated Press that the billionaire candidate should invest in communities such as Detroit and Fresno rather than profit at their expense.

Dumas says both cities are suffering in the wake of the Wall Street meltdown. Whitman once served on the board of investment firm Goldman Sachs.

Whitman made the comment Tuesday in an interview with the editorial board of the San Jose Mercury News, which reported her statement the next day.

Her spokeswoman, Andrea Rivera, says Whitman does not want Fresno to be “left behind as it has been in the past.”