Dearborn Mayor John O’Reilly Jr. (fourth from left) listens as resident Mike Hacham (right, on screen) questions the mayor’s cognitive ability during the July 13 city council meeting.
Produces court deposition to support contention
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – Resident Mike Hacham questioned whether Dearborn Mayor John O’Reilly Jr. is experiencing cognitive challenges, during the July 13 City Council meeting, and produced a 2019 court deposition supporting his contention.
During his time at the podium, during public comment time at the end of the meeting, Hacham said he wished to address a “sensitive and serious matter.”
“First, I want to send my thoughts and prayers to the mayor, and hope the situation is not as bad as we think it is,” he said. “However, there is a grave concern, among the city of Dearborn residents, that Mayor O’Reilly is unable to make informed decisions due to mental health.”
Hacham contends the deposition he handed out to council members supports his claim.
“In this deposition, the mayor was asked simple, personal questions, that he did not have the answers to, or was struggling to answer, and was answering incorrectly,” he said. “There are many examples, that you can see for yourself, in the deposition.”
Hachem said it was not his intent to “attack the mayor.”
“My prayers are with the mayor,” he said. “Now, I want to ask you, council: Did you know about the mayor’s deteriorating mental health conditions? If you did know, why was this not disclosed with the transparency that we were promised?”
Hacham asked the council members why they did not raise questions about the mayor’s condition, as demonstrated in the Feb. 13, 2019 deposition.
“We are asking for a federal investigation, by the FBI, into all transactions handled by the mayor from at least 2019 to the present,” he said. “And, lastly, we the people question your judgement as public servants, as you noticed the mayor’s deteriorating health, and you allowed this situation to continue longer than it should have.”
There was no immediate response to Hacham from the mayor or city council members.
Hacham, who gave a copy of the document to each council member, provided a deposition of O’Reilly on Feb. 13, 2019, in the matter of Bazzy Investments LLC vs the City of Dearborn, a 34-page document in which O’Reilly has difficulty recalling dates and details from his own personal life. The transcript was created by a court reporter, and was notarized.
In the document, O’Reilly was unable to state the correct year he graduated from high school, undergraduate college and law school.
The mayor said he was not taking any medication that would impact his ability to answer questions.
“I am just drawing a blank,” O’Reilly said at one point in the deposition. “I think I am a little tense.”
At another point, he again said he was “just drawing a blank.”
In the deposition, O’Reilly said he has two offspring, when he has three, and struggled to provide their ages.
The mayor said he had passed the bar exam in 1890, and graduated in ’28 from law school.
The document can be accessed online at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hKPCDwnmM50yHfjPp0XKXCS2TA-PW9Ue/view?usp=drivesdk.