AS THE COUNTY TURNS

The attempt to appoint a new Oakland County Executive has certainly generated its share of rumors, including the following two tidbits. When it became clear to Democrats that board of commissioners' chair Dave Woodward – who months ago announced he's running for the exec post in 2020 – did not have enough votes to become the designee, and neither did county treasurer Andy Meisner, the party turned to Dave Coulter, an announced 2020 candidate for the state House seat covering Ferndale, Huntington Woods and Oak Park. Coulter, who prior to the appointment was the mayor of Ferndale, was recruited to be a seat filler until next year's election, with a promise of a deputy executive position in either a Meisner or Woodward administration if he doesn't win the state House race. And now we hear Coulter is currently considering running for executive in 2020. The second nugget, sources say Republicans were negotiating to keep interim executive Gerry Poisson in place through the end of 2020, promising not to sue over Woodward's shenanigans if the Democrats agreed. But, as we know, there was no agreement, the Oakland County GOP sued, and while a judge did not issue the temporary restraining order local GOP chair Rocky Raczkowski demanded, the suit is ongoing.