Here's a good rundown of the scandals engulfing Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpratrick. As many commenters pointed out yesterday there's considerably more going on here than a coverup of an affair.
« Hillary and FMLA | Main | Based On »
Kilpatrick
20 Mar 2008 11:42 am
Comments (13)
One commenter noted correctly that there may also be a murder connected to Kilpatrick. The local news reports her as a stripper at one of his parties.
I think he's going down but it may take a few more weeks.
I found it intriguing that the only council member who didn't support Kilpatrick's resignation was Monica Conyers, wife of Congressman John Conyers. Anyone have a grasp of the politics behind it?
Also, from a May 2007 Detroit Free Press column recounting a phone conversation between Obama and Kilpatrick:
May 7, 2007As first encounters go, it could have been better.
But a recent phone call between presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was, shall we say, a little prickly.
Word is it went like this: In advance of his speech today to a sold-out Detroit Economic Club, Obama calls Kilpatrick to touch base, ask for his support, get to know him a little.
Kilpatrick, not yet committed to any presidential candidate, challenges the senator with a pinch of bluster about the nature of Obama’s broad, cross-racial campaign. He asks Obama whether he’d be comfortable standing in public next to a 6-foot-4 black guy from Detroit.
Obama, no shrinking violet, then fires back, saying he thinks he could handle it just fine — as long as Kilpatrick loses the earring.
Ouch.
Now, it’d be silly to make too much of this exchange. The pair won’t meet face to face until today. Their rough start could just have been about swagger.
Obama’s people say he knows the mayor has accomplished much in the city, and that Kilpatrick lost the ear stud long ago; the senator meant no harm, they say.
Covering up an affair: pish tush.
Firing two cops who were doing their jobs to continue covering up that affair: Serious, office-losing offense.
Deciding the city has $9 million to spare to cover up that affair: Not only losing office, but if I lived in Detroit and this was my tax money at work--I've gotta believe they have a few programs that could use $9 million--I'd be thinking lynch mob.
Hmm. Might want to be careful of courting this superdelegate vote.
If anybody is wondering how a Kilpatrick perjury trial would go down, I suggest watching Clay Davis's performance on the witness stand in Season 5 of the Wire. He'll spin the whole thing as a suburban conspiracy to bring down the duly elected mayor of Detroit and at least manage to hang the jury.
And there's no way that Granholm will take him down. She needs to win re-election in 2010, and Kilpatrick is still popular with many voters in Detroit. Kneecapping him would be political suicide for her - there's no way a Democrat can win statewide in Michigan without running up huge margins in Detroit.
Jeff, just an FYI, Granholm is term-limited. She can't run for governor again. She's possibly going to serve in a Clinton administration if Hillary should win the presidency. She could run for the Senate some day, but Levin is running for at least one more term and Stabenow doesn't seem to be in any hurry to retire. But otherwise your point is well taken. No Democrat who wants to win statewide is going to upset Detroiters.
An interesting corollary to the Kilpatrick story, which ties in with FISA:
His perjury (and that of his chief of staff, with whom he was having an affair - the denials of which constitute the perjury) was uncovered by the Detroit Free Press, through the discovery of steamy text messages between the two. The Freep claims to have some 14,000 text messages, and their publication may well touch on various other subjects.
Anyway, Kilpatrick has never questioned the authenticity of these messages. What he has challenged is the lawfulness of their interception. It may well be that the reason the local DA has taken so long in deciding whether to pursue a perjury case against him is over concerns that the text messages - the very essence of the perjury case - may not be admissible given their dubious provenance.
Just something to think about.
Kwame also has a dead stripper problem:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/NEWS01/80303045/1001/news
I'm a little mystified as to why anyone would think it's Gov. Granholm's job to do something about the Mayor of Detroit. There's no law of which I am aware which gives the governor the power to fire a mayor, and initiating any prosecution would be the job of the Wayne County Prosecutor or maybe the Attorney General, neither of whom work for the governor in Michigan.
The Freep claims to have some 14,000 text messages, and their publication may well touch on various other subjects.
I confess, I wonder what the winger response would be if this guy were a Republican. I suspect we would be hearing that:
a. "Investigations by the attorney general and State Police found no evidence the party had occurred." In other words, the original rumored impropriety has been cleared.
b. The officer and his supervisor were transferred, not fired. That sort of thing happens all the time. And besides, if they were investigating crazy rumors that turn out to be false, they were either politically motivated or bad at their job. The fact that they found deeply embarrassing personal information might suggest the former.
c. Dead strippers, particularly the ones that work "off-site" are not known either for their reliability or for hanging out with wonderful people in general. Whatever happened to this woman, there is a pretty big chasm between her death and the mayor.
Yep, I think that is about how it would go. Just sayin'
I confess, I wonder what the winger response would be if this guy were a Republican. I suspect we would be hearing that
Just so it's clear, my "Freep" reference was, as locals know, to the Detroit Free Press, not the winger web site.
~
Re: the stripper
Interesting fact - she was shot 17 times while her bf sitting next to her was not shot, even though the SUV holding the shooter circled a second time...she was pretty clearly the subject of an assassination.
Also interesting that every time a cop speaks out against the mayor or obstruction, they get win jury trials dealing with their severance.
"There's no law of which I am aware which gives the governor the power to fire a mayor,"
Didn't look very hard, did you?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23416759/
Comments closed April 03, 2008.
| 
Heads in the Sand
Yep, Kilpatrick has been a disaster for Detroit. His first term was also marred by scandals. I couldn't believe he was re-elected. Hopefully, the Wayne county prosecutor will seek an indictment for perjury and end his miserable career. This scandal was always about abuse of power. The former mayor, Dennis Archer had done a good job and Detroit was coming back. Kilpatrick has taken the city backwards to the Coleman Young era.
Posted by MarvyT | March 20, 2008 12:11 PM