FLINT, MI -- Flint city councilman and mayoral candidate Eric Mays is publicly blasting the campaign seeking to elect Giggles the Pig as the city's next mayor.

In a Facebook post early Friday, Mays said the campaign is motivated by racism and hypocrisy.

Mays, who represents the city's predominantly black 1st Ward, claimed that a campaign organized by local criminal defense attorney Michael Ewing seeking to elect his pet pig, Giggles, as the city's next mayor is an insult to the residents of the majority black city.

Mays made the accusation in a lengthy, public Facebook post after news about Giggles' campaign made headlines around the globe.

"Mr. Ewing is a white person calling two black people less than a pig," Mays said in a phone interview Friday morning.

Ewing denied Mays' accusations, adding that he is an "equal-opportunity criticizer."

"How do you respond to something so silly?" Ewing asked. "Saying that I'm somehow racist is absurd."

Ewing announced Giggles' campaign on Facebook on May 4 following news earlier this week that no names would appear on the upcoming mayoral primary ballot because the clerk's office gave the wrong campaign filing date to candidates.

Four candidates, including Mays, were informed that they filed enough signatures to be certified, but wouldn't be on the ballot because they missed the deadline by a week. In addition to Mays, incumbent Mayor Dayne Walling, Councilman Wantwaz Davis and businesswoman Karen Williams Weaver filed the required number of signatures by the wrong deadline given by the city.

The state said the city must proceed with an all write-in candidate election.

Ewing said he believed an all-write-in mayoral race could result in residents electing an unqualified leader, and Giggles' campaign aimed to bring more public attention to the race.

A part of that public attention included criticism of two sitting council members and mayoral candidates, Mays and Wantwaz Davis, for their previous criminal convictions. Both councilmen are black.

Mays called Giggles' campaign hypocritical and racist given that Ewing's law practice represents people with serious felony cases.

He also criticized Ewing for not blasting Walling, who is white, by name during a recent interview with a Detroit television station.

"I'm saying he could have just called us the N-word," Mays said of Ewing.

Davis said he wouldn't call the campaign racist, but he agreed that a criminal defense attorney criticizing convicted felons is hypocritical.

"If he feels that way then he needs to stop being a defense attorney," Davis said, adding that people are able to redeem themselves and become a positive example for others in the city.

Ewing said he has no problems criticizing other candidates who come forward in the race if they don't have a plan to move Flint toward financial solvency and away from state oversight.

"I have no problems criticizing others as soon as I know who runs," Ewing said.

Ewing has said the Facebook page won't be used just to promote Giggles. He said he plans to post information about Giggles' opponents to help better educate voters about their choices and bring attention to the election that will select the person to lead the city after the lengthy tenure of state-appointed emergency managers.

He said he would also challenge the candidates to draft a two-year budget for the city prior to the vote to show electors what their plan is for Flint.

But, Mays said he isn't afraid to discuss the issues of the race, even if Ewing and Giggles go forward with their campaign.

"I'll debate him and his pig in public any day of the week," Mays said.