ON THE OUTS

Word is that Oakland County and former state Sen. Mike Kowall (R-White Lake) recently parted ways, although reported details of the split are sketchy. Kowall joined the team at county headquarters as part of Oakland County’s economic development department after he was term-limited out of office from the state legislature in January 2019. Kowall, a longtime pal of late former county exec L. Brooks Patterson, came in at Patterson’s behest to do business development and maintain relationships with the Lansing establishment. Much of that work is currently being done by Oakland County Deputy Executive Rudy Hobbs, a two-term former state representative (D-Southfield, Franklin, Lathrup Village, Beverly Hills, Oak Park and Royal Oak Township) who was also Democratic Floor Leader, along with Republican Mike McCready, now Oakland County Director of Economic Development and Community Affairs, who is also a former state rep (Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, West Bloomfield). With their combined legislative expertise, the two regularly engage with the county’s lobbyist, Muchmore Harrington Smalley & Associates, on Oakland affairs. The gossip mill has it that Kowall’s wife, Eileen, a Republican county commissioner, is taking her husband’s change in job status personally, with county executive Dave Coulter (D) allegedly on the receiving end of choice words and personal snubs.