While a temporary plan is in place for a successor to Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who died Saturday after battling pancreatic cancer, figuring out a longer term successor gets a little more complicated.

Chief Deputy County Executive Gerald D. Poisson, who has stepped in to run the county while Patterson went through cancer treatment, will be sworn in to officially continue the role. The Oakland County Board of Commissioners has 30 days to appoint a successor to fill in through the end of 2020. If they don't come to a decision, a special election will be set to fill the position until the 2020 elections.

And that's where the matter gets dicey.

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Even before Patterson revealed he had cancer, two Democrats announced they were running for his seat — county Treasurer Andy Meisner of Ferndale and county board Chairman Dave Woodward of Royal Oak.

At first blush, it would seem that Woodward would have the inside track for the job, since the board is the body to name a replacement for Patterson. But a section of the county charter mandates that Woodward would have to resign from his seat on the Board of Commissioners before he could be considered for the appointment as county executive.

Democrats gained the majority on the county board for the first time in 42 years after the 2018 elections. But it's a slim majority. If Woodward quits the board, the partisan makeup of the board would be 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans, leaving not only the appointment of a successor a theoretical jump ball, but also the leadership of the board.

"And who would become chairman," wondered one commissioner, who didn't want to speak on the record about the matter so close to Patterson's death. "There are going to be fireworks."

Out of respect for Patterson, no one contacted by the Detroit Free Press would speak on the record for this story. But county employees said the appointment of a successor is fraught with political tension.

Democratic-leaning unions want to ensure that a temporary replacement for Patterson is strong enough to win the job when it comes up for a four-year term in November 2020.

Republicans, who have been allies of Woodward in the past, haven't been happy with the social issues that have been brought before the county board in recent months, including a resolution supporting nurses who want to unionize at Beaumont Hospital and a policy to "ban the box," which would eliminate a question about criminal convictions on most county job applications.

"That's not what county government is about," said one commissioner, who declined to speak on the record.

Oakland County has transformed from a Republican stronghold into a place where Democrats have dominated in recent years. After years of mostly GOP control, Democrats have won the countywide offices of prosecutor, treasurer, clerk and water resources commissioner, as well as the majority on the county board. In addition, in 2018, Democrats flipped two Oakland County-based seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and two in the state Senate from red to blue.

So the party has been hopeful that they can win the county executive's seat in 2020., although Republicans also aren't willing to give up on holding the seat. Names of Republicans that have surfaced as possible replacements include: Sheriff Michael Bouchard; two state lawmakers — former Rep. Mike McCready of Birmingham and Sen. Mike Kowall of White Lake — who took positions in Patterson's administration after they left office at the end of 2018; and U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop of Rochester who lost his bid for reelection in 2018.

But this weekend was not the time to talk about who will be succeeding Patterson in office, Woodward said.

"It's important to pay respect to the man who has led Oakland County all these years," he said. "We have capable leaders in the Executive Office now and a board that continues to focus on the work at hand."

If the commission can't come up with a consensus on a replacement for Patterson, a special election could be held with a primary during the March 10 presidential primary next year and a general election in May.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.