Detroit Council Aide Fired For Falsely Posing With Charles Pugh As Incoming Ombudsman Staff

Reggie Davis (Facebook photo)

Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters has fired staffer Reggie Davis, who, along with Charles Pugh — former council president and convicted sex offender — falsely posed as members of the incoming Ombudsman’s staff, Metro Times reports.

Waters’ firing of Davis, her community liaison, followed an Oct. 27  Inspector General report that concluded he and Pugh misidentified themselves to obtain inside information from a company doing business with the Ombudsman’s Office.

It appeared the goal was to gain an edge as a candidate for the Ombudsman job. Davis was one of 10 candidates, but the $195,000-a-year post went to Sherry Gay-Dagnogo.

The report found that Davis and Pugh posed as members of the incoming Ombudsman staff to obtain internal pricing information from WingSwept, a vendor that provides the case-tracking system used by the Ombudsman’s Office. Davis identified Pugh as the incoming chief of staff.

The Inspector General concluded: 

"The OIG recommends that Mr. Davis should receive appropriate disciplinary action for abusing his position and misrepresenting himself as part of the incoming Ombudsman team."

Davis' attorney Marcus Baldori wrote a response to the IG:

Mr. Davis’s communication with WingSwept was part of a good-faith effort to understand available case-management software options in preparation for a possible appointment as Legislative Ombudsman. He requested publicly available or standard pricing information, not internal City data.

No confidential records, credentials, or citizen information were requested or accessed. WingSwept’s communications were routine vendor interactions; no proprietary or internal City data was compromised or disclosed.

Mr. Davis acknowledges that his statement that he was part of the “incoming” Ombudsman staff was imprecise. Mr. Davis was engaging in what he thought was reasonable due diligence in the event that he would be part of the incoming group. Mr. Davis used his City-issued contact information, and never claimed to hold authority within the Ombudsman’s office.