Geoffrey Fieger is an entity in and of himself. There will never be another Geoffrey Fieger, at least not in this lifetime. His persona is magnified and potent. Because he gives so much of himself, he has the tendency to extract strong emotions and opinions from others. You either like Geoffrey or you don't. You either like caviar or you don't. There is no in between. There is no mediocrity. There is absolutely nothing lukewarm about Geoffrey Fieger.

Prior to Geoffrey's interview I had exhausted myself looking for everything I could find out about him on the internet. There were approximately 900 articles at the time. I downloaded 200, read them and decided that I was afraid to interview him. Even though I had met him before and found him quite down-to-earth, but after reading the articles I felt numb. I decided that I wanted Geoffrey to say nice, warm, fuzzy things about Governor Engler, so that people would know, myself included, that he was really kidding about his political views. I wanted him to say something philosophical about his foe so that people would think that he is really a "nice guy." I was wrong to bias my own interview, by wanting him to be something that he is not. Geoffrey Fieger stands on his beliefs and doesn't change his story to fit the publication. Geoffrey is no joke. I respect him for his honesty.

While interviewing Geoffrey I was offended that we were interrupted throughout the interview by his staff (this is the next Ebony Magazine, you know - smile), his ringing phone, and then he appeared to be distracted. But on my way home I realized that he was not distracted the least bit. He was being who and what he is. The essence of his being is designed to accommodate more than one thought, one person and one project at a time. This is what made him great. Before the interview was over, he was helping one of his associates, Michael Schwartz, look for a file. Excuse me ah... Mr. Fieger I am leaving now, I am not sure if he bothered to look up. But any way, thank you Geoffrey for the interview.  

TRIUMPH: According to what I have read about you, it appears that you grew up in a privileged environment.

FIEGER: No, I don't believe I was raised in a privileged environment. I was raised in Oak Park which was a middle class, semi-blue collar, primarily Jewish, suburb of Detroit. I did not, ah, you know, live in the wealthy areas of Farmington Hills, or North Farmington or Birmingham, or Bloomfield. For three years, 7^th, 8^th and 9^th grade, I attended Country Day School.   I hated it. Robin Williams was one of my classmates. There were 20 guys in the class. I hated it! It was very rigorous academically which I liked. But as far as socially, it was an all boy college prepatory. I hated it. The greatest days of my life was when I went back to Oak Park High School which was again, a middle class, suburban high school. I did not grow up with a life of privilege.

TRIUMPH: According to the newspapers, after high school you lived in Jamaica and England and traveled as a roadie in a band. Is this true?

FIEGER: Yes after high school I did live in England and Jamaica and one of my jobs was as a roadie for a number of groups.

TRIUMPH: What other jobs did you have prior to becoming an attorney? Did you ever flip burgers?

FIEGER: Prior to becoming an attorney, I was a waiter during college. I worked at a number of restaurants at the University of Michigan while I attended school. I didn't flip any burgers, but I was a waiter at the Holiday Inn. I was a waiter at a Chinese restaurant, I was a bartender at the Elks Club, I think or one of those places. I was also a bartender at a Chinese restaurant. I worked at the Big Ten Party Store behind the deli counter. And also, one summer I was a lifeguard at one of the local country clubs. So I had all those jobs. I was also a bartender at a bar in Chelsea. So during the years, I was attending college at the University of Michigan, where I got a bachelors and a masters degree, I did a lot of different jobs.

TRIUMPH: How do you feel connected with the underprivileged. You talk a lot about compassion and fighting for the little guy. What is your connection to every day people - did you go picketing with your parents?

FIEGER: My dad was an attorney who went down South to represent the Freedom Riders. My parents, both were very involved in the civil rights movement. My high school was integrated, Oak Park High, because the kids from Royal Oak Township, basically the only black area of Oakland County went to Oak Park High, I really have, I think an affinity and an understanding for not only the civil rights struggle, but I also think that I am a normal person what I feel is sensitive to the forces is society that oppress people.

TRIUMPH: Do you feel that this is primarily because of your parent's involvement with racial issues?

FIEGER: Yeah, I feel not just because of them, but maybe it's something in me. The way I was raised, I mean the friends that my parents had. We went to the Unitarian Church - Unitarian Universalist Church on Cass and Forrest which was also integrated. Some of my parents best friends were people like George Crockett, the former Congressman and Wade McCree, the former Solicitor General. My parents raised me in a multicultural environment. So that I think basically the feeling people have about me is that I am sensitive to the needs and concerns of people besides myself. I am not solely concerned about a small universe.

And in that regard, I think people see that I am sensitive to other people and I am sensitive to the injustices that exist, and that I want to right injustices. They know that I really feel these things, that I feel them in my gut. Injustice bothers me. I really dislike the idea of people oppressing other people or people treating people differently because of the color of their skin or any differences.

TRIUMPH: Have you ever been discriminated against?

FIEGER: To say do I know what it feels like or has anybody ever discriminated against me. Well no. The only time I ever encountered discrimination at all.. I am half Jewish. My mother is Norwegian, my dad was Jewish. I was raised in a sort of Norwegian environment. But I encountered discrimination, really for the first time, at Detroit County Day School... there was anti-Semitism. I had never seen anti-Semitism because Oak Park High School was primarily Jewish. And actually I felt, being only half Jewish it wasn't directed at me. But I saw it being directed at other people and it was strange. It was something that I wasn't even aware that it existed. And it made me angry to hear it and see it. I have always just felt that way. The way people see or feel about me is just the way I really am.

TRIUMPH: Detroit News, November 18, 1998 - "Eighty-seven percent of the voters in Detroit believed in his message. But when Fieger announced to the world that he was going to move to the city and run for mayor, I know that the candidate I had supported for governor had gone a little over board... Black voters aren't looking for a white savior. They are looking for an honest and hard-working person who is going to stand strong in the face of the storm... So why does Fieger think that he can get elected mayor of Detroit just by moving into the city? If Fieger is determined to run for governor, he should get prepared to hear the name calling. He should also know that black people stopped cheering for Tarzan many years ago." Adolf Mongo

Please rebut this. (please note that during the interview I did not have the article with me. Therefore, Mr. Fieger responded to my verbal recollection of Mr. Mongo's column.)

FIEGER: I haven’t read the article so my only response is that anybody who says that black people will only vote for black people that’s racist. I don’t think Adolph Mongo is a racist, but anybody who says that… is like saying white people won’t vote for black people. I haven’t read the article, so I don’t want to condemn Adoph. But if anybody ever said that Black Detroiters won’t vote for a white person for mayor then that’s racist. That’s like saying white people won’t vote for a black man or woman as a mayor and that would also be racist.

TRIUMPH: Geoffrey would you be interested in running for mayor of Detroit?

FIEGER: I don’t know. I am not a resident of the city of Detroit. So I mean, I couldn’t if I wanted to. Right now I would have to move into Detroit. Could I do a better job than what is being done right now? I think so. Do I want to be the mayor of the city of Detroit? I have never really thought about it. Does the city of Detroit need somebody who… The city of Detroit, statewide is looked upon as a black city that is getting the cold shoulder from the rest of the state. The rest of the state, in terms of the white population, the state gives the city of Detroit lip-service, then basically turns its back on it. It wouldn’t be bad for the city of Detroit to have a white mayor that could confront the subliminal, if you will, racist attitudes of the rest of the state towards Detroit.

Whether it’s me or somebody else. It’s gotta be confronted. There is implicit racist attitudes toward the city of Detroit because of it’s large black population. And they don’t say it but look what they do. They close the Recorder’s court. The juries at the Wayne County Circuit Court, even though Wayne County is 40% African American are less than 25% are African American. They closed Highland Park Community College, okay? And they basically have allowed the surrounding white suburb to continue to move out without reinvesting or developing the urban land use planning that would redevelop the city of Detroit. Why? Because the policies state wide have been racist. I think truthfully, I would be better as the governor to develop a plan for all of Michigan to help Detroit. In that sense, that is why I never really though of running for mayor of Detroit.

TRIUMPH: Do you think that you will run for Governor of Michigan again?

FIEGER: Yeah.

TRIUMPH: Really? You said that without a doubt.

FIEGER: I think I will 2002.

TRIUMPH: During the 1998 Gubernatorial race I had the opportunity to interview Governor Engler. I asked him if he was concerned about you becoming Governor of Michigan. He responded: "I am not the least bit concerned with Mr. Fieger winning this election. He has the most self-destructive personality I have ever seen. I don’t have to beat him, he will beat himself." Do you think that you, your personality was the main reason you lost the election?

FIEGER: My only comment on that would be… consider the source. He’s a racist. He says nothing and then goes behind the backs of people and work for his corporate and fat-cat sponsors who promote him. Today in politics you need duplicitous under-handed, fairly stupid, crook-like people like John Engler running because he doesn’t say anything. He says nothing. Primarily he is rather stupid. Then you get what you get. Okay? But I am certain that there is a place for the truth. The truth eventually will be spoken. I am sure they probably would have said that about Martin Luther King.

I wouldn’t listen to anything John Engler says because he is a racist, hate-mongering commercial trying to define me. They say that about anybody who isn’t a part of their status quo and that is how they try to define you. I have no excuses or explanations. This is who I am and what I am. This is the way I will always be.

TRIUMPH: So you don’t feel like you made any mistakes during the election?

FIEGER: No. The only mistake I made truthfully, in the election was spending a month after the primary and the convention trying to woo the traditional Democratic supporters including the UAW, without realizing that because I had beaten their hand-picked candidate, Larry Owens, that they were just going to string me along. I wasted a lot of time that didn’t have to be wasted.

TRIUMPH: They say a man is defined by his enemies. Can you say one good thing about Engler? Can you give him just one compliment

FIEGER: He is very good at appointing Fascists to the court of appeals and the Supreme Court. F-a-s-c-i-s-t (Fieger spells the word). Why should I say something nice about him. I have never seen him do a kind act. I have never seen him exercise compassion towards anyone. I have never heard him make a public speech or perform an act that seems to be considerate toward other people. (According to Webster’s New World Dictionary: "Fascist"— A system of government characterized by rigid one-party dictatorship, forcible suppression of opposition, private economic enterprise under centralized governmental control, belligerent nationalism, racism and militarism.)

TRIUMPH: What are your political plans for Michigan, do you plan to run for Senate?

FIEGER: Right now, I am leaving my options open. Might I ever run? Yes, right now I am having fundoing what I am doing. I have a radio program. I am probably going to state a national syndicated television show and I love the practice of law. Do I think at some point I might consider running for senate or Governor. I believe that I would be better as Governor than I of 100 in the Senate. Do I want to be in political office? No. I never inspired to that. In fact, I thought that the reason I ran for governor in the first place is because I thinnk nobody really talented is willing to give up their money-making job to just give something back to the people. I thought that I would set a good example. I had nothing to gain by going into politics. I was well-known. I was very successful. I was losing everything. It was sort of like going into the military, I thought that would set a good example for people. Do I want to be a politician? No.

TRIUMPH: Are you bored? People say first comes money then comes the power. Do you want power Geoffrey?

FIEGER: No. I think this is wrong, a lot of the people who want power have no money. Money isn’t the basis of why I do anything. But I think a lot of people want power for all of the wrong reasons, and it has nothing to do with money. Because money is power in this country. So anybody who says that once you get money you get power doesn’t understand that money is power. So unusually, it’s the people like Engler who could never get a job his whole life. Nobody would really ever employ him to do anything. And he goes into politics to suck off the public trough and to also feel powerful amongst people. This is why you see very few rich people go into politics because they already have the power.

TRIUMPH: Even with all of your money, you still did not win the election…

FIEGER: But that has nothing to do with power. That has to do with doing things right. I don’t want the power. I just want things to be done right.

TRIUMPH: I read that in 1996 you and your wife Keenie, were planning on adopting a minority child. Are you still planning to do this?

FIEGER: Yes, she is still investigating this.

TRIUMPH: According to the Detroit Free Press you said, "There is a certain point that Muhammad Ali realized he was the greatest fighter on the earth. I’m positive Wayne Gretzky realized he was the greatest hockey player. And there was a point at which I realized I was as good as they make them." What are the 3 most important characteristics that are necessary for a person to achieve phenomenal success?

FIEGER: You like what you do for a living and that it doesn’t feel like work. Secondly, you must like yourself and you enjoy living. Thirdly, that you are absolutely committed to be the best. And that folks is the way it is!

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